No Matter What
by Cotix14
Summary: My name is Nike Midas. Today I was chosen to participate in the 68th annual Hunger Games. The moment they called my name I felt as if the Capitol was taking away everything I cared about; my family, my friends, my home, even my own life. But I'm going to do everything I can to get them back.
1. The beginning of everything

**Hi, everybody! This is the first time I write in this page, it's also the first time I write anything from the Hunger Games fandom, but I read all the books and I loved them. After a while I started thinking about all the different kinds of games there must've been so I decided to write my own. This story is about a boy from district 7 that's chosen to participate in the 68th Hunger Games. I'll also mention Johanna plenty of times, because I love her character and I wish there was more about her in the books. I hope you all like it!**

**Disclaimer: Except for a few OCs I don't own anything.**

**The beginning of everything:**

I feel sweat running down my back. I've been working in the woods for about ten hours now and I'm exhausted, but I have to cut at least three more trees today or I won't get paid and I really need the money. I pick up the ax and hit the tree one last time and it falls down with a loud thud.

''Douglas!'' I shout to my boss. ''Help me out here!''

He comes and helps me get the huge pine tree on one of the trucks.

''Great work Nike.'' He says

''Thanks, Douglas.'' I say ''I better get back to work, I still need to cut plenty of more trees before 10 o'clock''

''Wait, wait, wait'' He says taking my arm ''How long have you been working''

''I don't know, like 10 hours'' I answer.

''Dude, take the money. It's okay, I cover your shift, you go rest'' He says.

''You mean it?'' I say like a little kid.

'' Yeah, but don't get used to it'' He says ''It's only because tomorrow's the reaping''

I thank him and head back to my small wooden house in the far end of the district. District 7, the district I live in, is really big. In the school they say district 7 is one of the biggest districts in Panem, only exceeded by the Capitol and district 11, so it takes me like half an hour to get home. When I arrive it's like 10 o'clock. My dad is already asleep and I can tell he's shivering. He might be having a nightmare. I don't blame him, he's been having them since I was four and my mom died, but they got worse 2 years ago when he lost his hand in an accident. That was a pretty terrible day, my dad had to stop working and I started working n my own. I was only 12 so it was hard to get enough money for food, clothes and stuff.

I lie down on my bed and try to sleep, but I can't. I keep thinking about the reaping. I'm only fourteen, my name should only be in 3 times, but the year my father lost his hand I had to take tessarae as many times as possible and I had done it ever year ever since, so my name right now is in 22 times. I'm as nervous as I can be.

After an hour or so I decide that I can't stay there, so I get dress and take my knife just in case and head to the woods. Since people in district 7 have to work in the woods we can go to the woods whenever we want (You have to sign a sheet and let them put a tracker on you, but still it's better than nothing). There's a small clearing like half a mile into the woods, I found it years ago and I go there every time I want to relax or just think. However when I arrive I see it isn't empty.

''Hey, Jo'' I say sitting down beside my best friend, Johanna Mason. Johanna is a year younger than me and she's awesome. She is so sarcastic and blunt; I'm one of the only people that finds her attitude completely hilarious.

''Hey, brainless'' she says smiling slightly. I'm not offended, she calls everybody brainless.

''Can't sleep?'' I ask,

''No'' she says rolling her eyes ''I'm sleeping right now, can't you tell?''

I laugh ''You're supposed to be upset so I can be the cool guy that comforts you, Johanna. Why don't you ever follow my lead?''

She laughs ''You know that's not my style'' she says ''Well, if you have to know I'm nervous about the reaping''

Johanna is the bravest person I know. When I was 12 I had to feed myself and my dad and I found that harder than anything. Johanna was only 13 and she had been taking care of her younger brother and mother since she was 10 and I never seen her complain about it. She has done the same thing I have with the tessarae, only that since she has to take care of 2 people instead of 1 she has to ask for more tessarae than I do, so even though she's younger than me she has 21 slips in the reaping, only one less than me.

''This sucks'' she says taking her head in her hands ''what will happen to my family if I die in the Games? They'll die, Alex is so young and my mom is useless, she can't work''

''Johanna'' I say taking her hand, it surprises me that she didn't move her hand ''If something happens to you, on the Games or here in the district, I would never let your family die.''

''Are you serious?'' she asked me.

''Of course'' I say ''You would do the same for me''

Afterwards we just sit there quietly looking at the pine trees surrounding the clearing and I can't help but remembering the first time we met, in that same clearing.

_I'm 9 years old. I'm working in the woods, I'm so young that my schedule is a lot lighter than all the other adults, so I decide to take a walk in the woods. I've always loved the woods. The smell, the colors, the pine trees, the animals, all of it is amazing. I had found a clearing when I was younger and I want to go there. When I get there, I see a girl sitting looking at the woods to the opposite side of where I am. I can only see her back, but I can tell she isn't too tall and her hair is brown and long. I walk over there slowly until I'm right behind her._

_''Are you ok?'' I ask her and I place my hand softly on her shoulder._

_She looks up surprised and she quickly rubs her eyes to hide the fact she is crying. Now that I saw her face I recognized her. I don't know her name, but I've seen her at school. She's a year younger than me and she lives pretty close to my little house that I share with my dad. She's very pretty, I have to admit, sometimes I even catch myself staring at her._

_''Y-yeah...'' she says smiling, even though the pain is clearly written in her eyes ''I'm ok, thank you''_

_I sit down in front of her and I look at her in her eyes ''You're not ok'' I say ''You can tell me, I won't tell anyone else, I promise''_

_It takes her a while to start talking, but once she does she tells me everything. Her father had passed away because of cancer. She is worried about her little brother, who is 5 years old, she's also worried about her mother, who is not very... sane. But most of all, she feels lonely. She tells me stories about her dad, about things she did with him and why she feels so alone. I listen to all of them intently, it seems like she likes to have someone who'll hear her and help her get over this. I tell her that all teh things she did with her dad, she could do them with me. It's not the same thing, to learn to do new things or to play games with a complete stranger, still her face lights up when I say that. Afterwards I tell her about my mom, and how she passed away when I was only 4 years old. She listens to me as intently as I listened to her. I've never spoken about my mom with anyone before, but it's nice to just let it all out. We make a deal, we would always help each other out in any situation, no matter how awful it was. I found out her name is Johanna and she learns my name is Nike, but she always makes up a new nickname whenever she sees me. In just a few weeks she's my best friend._

And after 5 years, she still is. We both have changed. Both of us are now basically the head of our families, for different reasons. And both of us are more mature now, and Johanna is definetely more sarcastic and mean than before. I don't mind that, though.

''We should go, Jo'' I say after a while of talking ''It's like three o'clock in the morning, we should sleep''

''I hate when you're right'' she says while standing up ''I guess I'll see you tomorrow''

''Yeah'' I say ''And may the odds…'' I say with the best Capitol accent I can make.

''Be _ever _in your favor!'' she finished and we laughed at the ridiculousness of the Capitol.

We say good bye and head back to our houses. I lie down on my bed and I fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes.

When I wake up the sun, that is shining through the window, annoys me so I stand up and head to the small kitchen of the house and find my dad eating a piece of bread.

''Morning, Nike'' he says ''where were you last night?''

''I just got out for a walk, couldn't sleep'' I say.

''Alright, eat something the reaping's in an hour'' he says. I love my dad, and how he never asks questions about anything.

I eat a piece of bread and head to the ''bathroom'', which consists in a small bathtub and a bucket full of water. I clean myself as good as I can and spend like half an hour trying to scrape the dirt of my nails unsuccessfully. I take some clothes of my father's closet. We had never been rich, so the clothes aren't very fancy, but they are so me that I couldn't care less. I wear brown pants, a bottomed up white shirt and leather boots. I try to brush my hair but that's a lost battle so I just give up and walked to the square.

The square is very close to the woods and is also really big. I like the square, I usually eat lunch with my partners here and there are plenty of great stores, of course I can't afford anything but I like to see all the stuff. Too bad the reaping is held there.

When I arrive the square is almost full. I walk to the place where all the other 14 year old guys are and wait for the reaping to get started.

Finally, Nova Brown takes the stage. Nova is a small woman, she wears way too much make up and she's very surgically altered. She's like 55 years old and I'm guessing she used to be pretty, but for so many surgeries trying desperately to look you she became really disturbing.

''Welcome!'' She says enthusiastically, like always ''To the 68th annual Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever_ in your favor''

She reads the story of Panem and everything about the dark days, when district 13 was destroyed and the Hunger Games were created to stop another rebellion from the districts against the Capitol.

Then she reads the list of winners from our district, that are exactly 7. Three of them are dead, two are like 60 years old one is totally nuts and the other one is called Blight Maxwell, who's sitting in a stool on the stage looking a little dizzy, which doesn't surprise me, because the dude has a bad addiction to morphing,

''Ladies first!'' Nova says and then she walks to the big glass ball where all the names are and I only had time to wish for Johanna's safety when Nova is reading the name ''Chloe Zilos!''

I have no idea who she is. I see her making her way up the stage, she's like 17 and I think I'd seen her on the square and on the stores. For a second I'm happy that it isn't anyone I know and then I feel like a jerk for thinking like that. Nova asks for volunteers and no one takes her spot, that isn't unusual, as far as I know there has never been a volunteer in the last 20 years.

''Now for our male tribute!'' she says she walks to the big glass ball with the guy names.

I close my eyes and pray, that it's not me, that it's not me, that it's not me.

''Nike Midas!'' she reads.

And it is me.

**That was the first chapter, I hope you liked it and please review, tell me what you think, if it is good, bad, you wanted to cut your arm with a plastic spoon while reading it, anything you want. Ideas are also welcome and you can PM me whenever you want for anything you want. I'll try to update once every week.**


	2. Goodbye

**First I would like to thank nb1998 and Twinkie062197 for reviewing. It really made my day. Both of you gave me constructive criticism and I promise I'll work on it, but just for the record English isn't my first language, it's actually my third and I'm only 13 so it's hard. **

**There's one little thing that I want to ask everyone of you, do you think Johanna was OOC? I found it kind of hard to portray because she's usually cold, but sometimes sensitive like when she was in the hospital in district 13… I would really like to know if I did it okay. **

**Goodbye:**

I hear my name, alright. I don't know how to describe everything I'm feeling. My ears are ringing, my mouth feels dry and I think I forgot how to breathe. I'm scared. No, I'm terrified. When I was little I got lost in the woods and I had to spend the night there, I was six so of course I was scared out of my mind, but this… This was different, when I was six there weren't 23 teenagers trying to kill me.

''Dude, she called you'' Some guy says behind me. It's weird but that's the only thing at the moment that sets me off my trance.

I walk to the stage. I'm doing my best to look confident and most of all not to cry, but I'm fourteen for crying out loud, I'm probably going to be one of the youngest tributes, the odds are definitely not in my favor. Nova takes my hand and leads me to the center of the stage.

''Very well, give it up for our male tribute!'' she says and the crowd claps half heartedly.

Nova starts reading the Treaty of Treason but I'm just standing there thinking. My name was called. I still cannot believe it and the stupid ringing don't leave so I'm having a hard time focusing. Johanna, I think. Johanna always makes me feel better, I'm not really sure why, maybe the familiarity. I search for her in the crowd, but I can't find her and Nova finishes and tells me and Chloe to shake hands and once we do she leads us to the Justice Building.

She takes me to a room and Chloe to another. The room is small but is fancier than anything I've ever seen before. There's a leather couch and a couple of chairs lined in front of it. I'm supposed to say goodbye to my family here. I sit down on the couch and stare at the door questioning its existence for what seems like forever.

Finally it opens and I see my dad looking really devastated. I stand up and hug him. My dad has never been a man of many words, but I couldn't be happier he was here. Even though he can't work and that makes my life a thousand times harder, he's my hero and I can't see myself managing this without him.

''Listen, Nike'' he says ''I'm not gonna lie to you, you're in for a hard time, but I know that if anyone can do it, it's you''

''Dad, I promise I'll do my best'' I say. I know there's no hope and I know he knows it too, but I can't tell him that. He lost my mom, then his hand and now he's probably going to lose me as well. I don't know what to say.

He then takes off a necklace he always wears, but he usually kept under his shirt so I've never seen what it is. It's a ring. Small and silver and it's tied to a very thin cord.

''I want you to have this'' he says giving it to me ''It was your mom's, kind of an engagement ring. I want you to keep it until you come back''

I'm speechless; this is the only thing I have from my mom. Most of her stuff burned in a fire (which is extremely hard to turn off when there's so much wood lying around). ''Thank you, dad'' I manage to say.

Then we just sit quietly until the Peacekeepers call him.

''I know you can do it, son'' he says when he's at the door ''Remember, I love you and I'm proud of you''

''I love you too, dad'' I manage to say before they close the door.

I try to breathe normally and not to hyperventilate. I know that looks are really important in the Games, I can't look like a weakling. I started playing with the ring that I already put on and it relaxes me, maybe because it actually reminds me of the little I know about my mom. The door opens again and I'm surprised to see Douglas there.

'' Douglas!'' I say ''what are you doing here?''

''Hunt zebras'' he says ''I want to say goodbye, you idiot''

''Wow, thanks'' I say ''I didn't know you cared''

''Of course I care!'' he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me slightly ''You're a nice guy, you work hard and I've seen you giving part of your money to the homeless even though you desperately need it''

''Thank you, Douglas'' I say

''That and your dad's nice'' he says and I laugh for some reason. ''But seriously, you're like my best worker, I'm sure you can come up with a plan. I'm sure you can come back''

The peacekeepers open the door and say it's time for Douglas to leave and he just stands up and leaves without another word.

The door opens almost 2 seconds later, maybe less, and Johanna storms in. I kind of want to hug her, for some reason, but she sits down beside me and grabs my shoulders tightly.

''Listen to me, Brainless'' she says fiercely ''You are going to win this thing, you want it or not''

I can't do what I did to my dad, I can't tell her that I think everything will be fine, I just can't lie to her ''But Johanna, there are 24 of us only one comes out''

''Well, thanks for stating the obvious dr. Pessimist'' she says rolling her eyes ''You're brave, your strong, your fast, your kind of smart…''

''Kind of?'' I ask feeling slightly offended.

''I'm not going to retract it'' she says smiling and we both laugh.

''You can do it, Nike'' she says after we stop laughing and takes my hand squeezing it lightly ''Promise me you'll do it''

''I promise I'll do everything possible'' I say. Then she hugs me tightly. Johanna is _not_ the hugging type of person, this is the third or second time we ever hugged and she's been my best friend for 5 years so one can get the idea. I might never get a chance to do it, so I smell her hair and try to remember everything about it. Her hair smells like pine trees, it smells like home. For the first time I feel the tears threatening to fall.

''I forbid you to cry!'' she says after we break apart, but I can see that her eyes are watery too.

''But you're crying!'' I say laughing.

''I'm not crying!''

''Yes, you are!''

''No, I'm not!''

''Yes, you are!''

''No, I'm not!''

''Alright, you're not''

''Thank you'' she says smiling.

''But, you are''

''Shut up!'' she says hitting my arm.

''I'm gonna miss you'' I say.

''Yeah,'' she says taking my hand again ''I never thought I get to care so much about such a loser''

''Sometimes I really hate you'' I say.

''No, you don't'' she says.

''Thank you Johanna'' I say after a while.

''For what?'' she asks me.

''You're the only person that has been here that didn't look at me as if they were choosing which flowers I would like in my coffin'' I say

''I really think you can do it'' she says smiling ''Just promise that you won't turn into... You know, a Capitol snob''

''Of course not! I promise'' I say laughing.

I hug her again and we stay like that until the peacekeepers say times over. Johanna asks for more time, but when they refuse… Well, long story short, I got to learn some pretty colorful vocabulary.

They lead me to the train station; I've never been on a train, I usually travel on foot or sometimes one of the trucks we use to carry wood gives me a lift to my house.

The station is filled with photographers taking pictures and tapings of me and Chloe. I catch a glimpse of myself in one of the big screens, I don't look as scared and confused as I thought I would, actually I look almost confident. I wonder where that came from. Chloe doesn't look as terrified as she's probably feeling, she just looks sad.

The train is huge and is fancier than the Justice Building. I have my very own room and Nova tells me to do whatever I want or wear whatever I want but to be ready in an hour for dinner. As the totally balanced person I am, I throw myself in the bed put my head in a pillow and scream until I lose my voice.

Afterwards I take a shower. It's pretty cool; they have this panel full of buttons each with a different function. At the end I just choose warm water and pine scented soap. It took me five minutes to shower, but I feel cleaner than ever in my entire life

I put on some brown shorts and a white shirt. I feel like a small child in an amusement park, everything I've seen in the last hour or so I find totally impressive, even this clothes that are so simple.

I walk to the dining room even though I still have like 20 minutes that I could use to scream in a pillow some more, but I think my voice is not fully back. I spend those 20 minutes playing with a fork, I know I'm very productive, and after a few moments Nova and Chloe arrive.

They bring the food and that's the moment I realize how hungry I am. There are all kinds of foods that I didn't even know existed. In the table there's this thing called bacon, I swear if it were legal I would marry that thing. I eat so much that I'm certain I weigh five pounds more.

''Where's Blight?'' Chloe asks Nova.

''Oh, he's probably in his room, you know…'' Nova says.

''Drinking?'' I say.

She scowls ''Well, yes. Maybe Blight has a little… problem, but he's the only thing you will have in the arena, I recommend you to show some respect'' and she stands up and leaves without another word.

''I think she's right'' I say turning to Chloe.

''I don't think we should talk with each other'' she says and looks the other way.

I guess I can understand her, maybe she doesn't want me to know much about her ''Fine'' I say.

We wait there in silence for plenty of minutes and I'm bored out of my mind. I'm very hyperactive, so just sit there doing nothing is like torture. Finally Blight stumbles through the door. I think he showered, because his black hair I wet. And he looks slightly more focus than he did in the reaping.

''How old are you?'' he asks Chloe.

''Seventeen'' she says kind of confused for the random question.

''Good,'' he says nodding ''what about you?'' he says pointing at me.

''Fourteen'' I say.

''Hmph, I hate getting tributes younger than sixteen'' he says and that makes me kind of annoyed ''Well, the sooner we start this the better''

''What you really need to do is make a good impression'' he says ''If you do that and think a little in the arena you can get out of this alive. We need to see the recaps of the reaping., see your reactions, that way maybe we can figure out what your angle will be''

I'm very surprised. I was so sure Blight was just talk, that he was an idiot, but everything he said was totally logic and I had never even seen the games from this angle before.

He turns the TV on and the recaps are just starting. I make a mental note of the tributes that I should watch out for. The tributes from district 1 a very muscular _girl, _and a very tall, thin dude. From district 2 the biggest boy I've ever seen. Both of the tributes from 4 looked very murderous and scary and the girl from district 5 is just creepy.

Then they come to the reaping from district 7. The call Chloe and she makes her way up the stage looking emotionless all the time. Then they call me. You can see the shock registered on my face, but after a moment I look completely confident and it's the same in the train station. It's as if my face showed every emotion that I wasn't feeling at the moment.

From the rest of the tributes there's only one that sticks to my head. It's a twelve year old boy from district 12. He looks a little muscular and better fed than the other tributes I've see form district 12. He was blonde and had bright blue eyes; he was probably from the richer part of the district. You could see how scared he was and I felt terrible for him.

''So'' Blight says after the recaps are over ''I think I figured it out, now go to sleep will be in the Capitol tomorrow morning''

I go to my room and I climb under the covers without taking off my clothes or anything and I fall asleep almost immediately.

**I hope you all liked the second chapter and if you do or have any suggestion be free to PM me or review. And a little question, who do you think should play Johanna and Finnick in Catching Fire? I think Finnick should be Tim Pocock and Johanna should be Naya Rivera, what do you think? Please read and review and I'll update next Saturday.**


	3. The opening ceremonies

**Thanks to nb1998 and midnightafterdark for reviewing. Seriously, you're awesome. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

**The opening ceremonies:**

I wake up a little after nine o'clock and walk to the dining room. There's plenty of food in a long table to one side. I ask one of the avox if I can serve me and he nods. I have a plate full of bacon, fried eggs, pancakes and some rolls. It surprises me how much food I can eat. There's also a drink called hot chocolate and that thing is freaking nectar.

I watch some interviews with Caesar Flickerman, the games host, and after a few minutes Chloe, Nova and Blight walk into the dining room.

Once they are all finished eating Blight sits in front of me and Chloe and adopts a serious expression, even though you can tell he's a little drunk.

''Well listen up'' he starts ''Yesterday we all so how you look liked in front of the cameras. You, Chloe, looked kind of modest and humble. I don't care how you were really feeling, I want you to play it like that'' he says and then turns to me ''And Blondie'' Blondie? ''You looked confident, I don't know why, so that's the way you'll play it, understood?''

We both nod. ''Good, now we are getting close to the Capitol, I'm guessing we'll be there in an hour, once we arrive you'll be taken to your prep team'' he says ''It'll be uncomfortable, annoying and maybe even embarrassing, but whatever they do to you don't resist and don't complain''

''But what if…'' I start.

''Don't complain, Blondie!'' He shouts.

''Alright, but will you please stop calling me Blondie?'' I ask.

''No'' he says ''Now go to your rooms and try to get some rest, today will be the opening ceremonies and I want you to look pretty.''

I kind of hate that guy, but he did win so I listen to him and walk back to my room.

My prep team starts with making me look as perfect as possible. They polish my nails, even though that's kind of girly, and take the dirt off of them which I thought was impossible until now. They also shave me, even though I'm fourteen and I don't even have a beard yet.

''Hold still, sweetie'' A woman called Meridia says.

She puts her hand on the back of my head and I fell something very pointy in my neck.

''Ow!'' I say when I feel that pointy thing entering my neck ''What was that?''

''Oh, nothing'' A kind of girly man called Mehrunes says ''That was just a little chem., it will stop your hair from growing so fast, that way we won't have to worry about your hair once we are done with it''

''Talking about that'' A woman called Azura says ''What do you think Perc will do with his hair?''

''You're right'' Meridia says ''Too bad he tolds us to leave it alone, he has so much hair''

And just like that they start talking about how I look, as if they looked fabulous with their tattoos and cat whiskers. It's not like I have self-esteem problems, but it's very annoying.

It takes them two more hours to be done with me and to be completely honest I don't see any difference except for the fact that my nails are clean for the first time in my life.

They leave and tell me Perc will be here in a few moments. I look at myself in one of the mirrors in the room and think about my appearance for the first time ever. I'm not bad looking.

Years of working in the woods cutting trees and carrying them made me become very muscular. I have the looks of the people from the richer part of the district, because of my mom. My hair is golden blonde and it grows extremely fast and it has a mind of its own, I guess that's what Meridia was talking about, and my eyes are a very bright green.

Perc walks in that very moment and I have to bite my tongue not to laugh. He's been stylist for I think almost forty years and yes he's always looked ridiculous, but now he took it to the extreme.

Last year Perc, dyed his skin yellow that mixed with his new improvement was enough to make someone cry. He has an afro, but not just a normal afro, a multicolored afro. It was green, red, purple and blue. I can't believe that anyone in the Capitol could find the clown hair attractive.

''Hello, Nike'' he says ''I'm Perc, pleased to meet you'' he says taking my hand and kissing it, which I find kind of uncomfortable.

He looks at me for a long time, which is embarrassing since I'm completely naked except for my underwear, that the prep team told me I could keep on, thank God.

''I guess you'll do'' he says. ''put your robe on, I need to work with your hair. Then we'll talk about your costume for the opening ceremonies''

I spend another hour sitting there as Perc works with my hair, but all the time I'm praying that he won't turn my hair into a clown afro like his. He injects that weird chem again which means that my hair will probably never look normal from that moment on.

He gives me a mirror and tells me to look at my hair. I feel like a complete idiot, because I think it looks awesome. The sides are shorter, almost completely shaved and the rest of my hair is from back to front all spiky and it ends up falling on my forehead.

''This looks…'' I say ''Amazing!''

''Well, I'm glad you liked it'' he says smiling ''Now let's talk about the opening ceremony''

I sit down with him in a couch nearby. I think it's the hair, but I feel a little more comfortable. A few avoxes bring us food and I start eating like crazy. I seriously don't know how I can eat that much.

''Now, Nike'' he starts ''I have this great idea for your costume and I think you'll love it…''

''Let me guess'' I say faking a little enthusiasm even though I know exactly what he'll make me wear ''I'm gonna be dress as a tree?''

''Why, yes!'' he says looking genuinely surprised ''How did you know?''

'Because it's what you've been doing the last forty years' I want to say, but I bite my tongue ''I just had a hunch'' I say acting as happy and excited as I can.

''Is that so?'' he says ''then let's get started!''

I'm standing in front of the chariots where we are supposed to ride as the prep team finishes painting my face green. Actually my entire head is green, even my hair. I'm wearing a green long sleeved shirt and when I move, it looks as if the shirt were made of leaves and if they were moving because of the wind. My pants are brown; I guess it was supposed to look as if my legs were a tree trunk.

Once they are done I climb onto the chariot and see how all the other tributes look like. The boy from district 1, I think his name is Clive, is wearing a long robe that is completely covered in diamonds, emeralds, rubies and plenty of others precious stones. The girl is wearing a similar outfit but it's shorter and it shows more skin. They're lucky, their district makes luxury, they never have to worry about the opening cermonies.

The boy from district 2 is called Dante and to be honest I'm a little scared of thet guy. He's wearing one of those skirts people in Sparta used to use and a red cape, you can see his muscles and he's definetely very, very strong. The girl, Silvia I think, is also wearing a Spartan armor but this is one does cover her chest.

The girl and boy from district 3, Jeff and Kim, are wearing a black costume with blue and yellow lines all over it and a bunch of buttons, they look very ridicolous, but I've seen worse.

District 4 are probably the ones with the better costume. I still can't remember their names. They're covered in pearls, seashells, very bright scales and plenty of others sea things, their legs and arms are covered in silver fish nets. In other words, they look fantastic. District 5, power is wearing an outfit pretty similar to the tributes from 3. I'm guessing their stylists will be in trouble after this. District 6, Transportation, looks ridiculous. They have every kind of thing people use to move, like wheels, and stuff in their outfit.

The tributes from District 8, Textiles, are wearing peacekeepers uniforms. I can understand that since district 8 makes tributes from district 9 are covered in plenty different types of tributes from district 10, a boy called Jessie and a girl called Mara or Tara or something liked that are dressed like cows and they look very stupid.

Both tributes from district 11 are wearing basically the same thing, they look like plants and they have a lot of different fruits and leaves in their suits. They actually looked pretty good.

Then there's district 12 and I feel kind of bad for them. They're wearing coal miners suits and Kyle, the little boy that's only twelve, is a little small for his suits. I doubt they could get any sponsors.

Chloe climbs in the chariot with me after her stylists finish with her outfit. She's wearing a short dress made of the same material as my shirt. Her legs and arms are painted brown, but she had the good luck of not having to paint her face like me.

''You look great'' I told her.

''Thanks, so do you'' she says smiling, but then she remembers something and looks away.

I'm about to ask what the heck is wrong with her, but the doors open and the chariots start moving. I was two seconds away from falling off the chariot, but I held on to one of sides. Once the tributes from district one enter the city circle the crowd goes mad. That's very normal; they're usually favorites along with the tributes from district 2.

When we enter the city circle the crowd cheers, not as loudly as they did with district 1 but still pretty loud. I wave and smile at everybody. I look at one of the screens and I'm happy because I look confident, just as Blight said I had to.

The chariots fill the loop of the City Circle and the crowd goes silent as President Snow gives us a welcoming speech. When he's done the crowd cheers loudly again as the chariots ride to the Training Center, the doors close and we don't hear the crowd again.

''That was great, guys!'' Nova, Perc and Chloe's stylist Thrain said almost at the same time.

''I'm I gonna have to start calling you Greenie?'' Blight asks me.

''I hope not, this is supposed to wash off'' I say touching my hair.

''Good, I like Blondie better than Greenie'' he says and I'm unsure if he means the nicknames or the actual color of my hair.

After the congratulating and small taking Nova takes us to the elevator in the Training Center. We are in the floor 7 since we are from district 7. The elevator is extremely cool and I ask Nova if we can ride again, but she just laughs and says ''Maybe later, sweetie''.

I go to my quarters and they are bigger than mine and Johanna's houses combined. I take a shower and it takes me about an hour to get rid of all the paint and make up on me, I pick up a more comfortable outfit and put it on.

Afterwards I just lie in my bed and play with my mother's ring. It makes me think about home and I start getting seriously nostalgic. I miss going to work, I miss having an ax in my hands, I miss my dad, but most of all I miss Johanna and her sarcastic comments that always cheer me up. Then I think about the fact that I might never see any of them again. My eyes start to get a little watery, but fortunately Nova knocks on my door and tells me is time for dinner.

I rub my eyes and head to the dining room. Everybody is already there eating and talking. I started eating a little bit of everything on the table and drink some drink called root beer. I feel like a little kid because everybody else is drinking wine, but they agreed I'm too young to drink alcohol.

''So,'' Blight starts ''You were very nice in the chariot, maybe not the best, but you followed my advice, you acted like I told you to and I think we can work with that''

''Thank you, Blight'' Chloe says.

''Yeah, thanks'' I say ''I think that's the first nice thing you say to me''

''That's not true, I also said…Nope, you're right that's the only good thing I've said about you''

I laugh for some odd reason and Blight smiles at me ''I think you're starting to grow on me, Blondie'' he says pointing me with his cup. He then sits straight and looks at both me and Chloe with a stern look ''Now, let's talk about training''

**I'm not very good describing so if you wonder how Nike's hair actually looks, I got inspired by watching Colton Dixon sing Love The Way You Lie, so if you're wondering you should watch the video and see how his hair looks like. As you know, the interviews will be in two or three chapters and I decided to ask the readers what they think Caesar Flickerman should ask Nike and I will answer as many questions as I can. So please review or PM me any question you would like to add in the story . **


	4. Training: Day 1

**Thanks to nb1998 and Pax Cronin for reviewing. You're awesome ! Remember to send me the questions for the interview in a few chapters.**

**Training: Day 1:**

''It's late and I know you're tired'' Blight says ''So let's start with something simple. Do you wanna be coached together or separately?''

''I really don't care'' I say.

''I want to be coached separately'' Chloe says not looking at me. I want to ask what's wrong with her, again, but I feel that can be a little rude so I just shut up. But still I wonder did I do anything to her? Did I hurt her or said something wrong? It bothers me not to know.

''Alright then'' Blight says ''Training is tomorrow at 8 o'clock, I'll see you, Chloe at six. Blondie, I'll see you at seven, don't be late. Now go to bed''

We both obey and head to our bedrooms. I say good night, which by the way Chloe didn't say back and change into something more comfortable. I lie in bed just thinking, until finally I fall asleep. My dreams are filled with scary teenagers that resemble Dante a lot. I wake at six thirty with Nova's voice saying 'Rise and shine, sleepy head!' which I really want to reply with 'shut the hell up!'. As you can see I'm not a morning person.

I eat breakfast in the dining room and I wait for Blight to finish his training session with Chloe. The food is awesome, as always, but been chased by a very angry eighteen year old all night sure can take your appetite away. At seven o'clock exactly Blight comes and sits with me in the dining room. I'm already done eating so I have no problem starting with training.

''All done, Blondie?'' he asks and I nod ''Good. I need to know a few things about you before we start. What did you do in district 7?''

''I was a woodcutter' I answer.

''How long have you been a woodcutter?''

''I started when I was 8, but I actually start making a living out of it when I was 12''

''So you're handy with an ax?'' he says and I nod again ''Good, when you're at you're private session pick a sword''

''What? Shouldn't I pick an ax?'' I say genuinely surprised.

''Look, I've been a trainer for 15 years now I know what I'm talking about'' he says

''But why?'' I ask.

''Alright, Blondie. An ax is heavier and harder to use than a sword no matter what other people say. People that are used to using axes can move a sword faster than people that just practiced with a sword. Now will you stop annoying me with stupid questions?'' He says. I never thought anything like that, but I guess it makes sense.

''Fine, what should I do in training?'' I say.

''Go for the survival skills.'' He says ''I'm guessing you can make a fire since you work in the woods, that's an important skill, don't underestimate it. But that won't be enough. The most important thing is to find food. Learn how to do snares, which plants are edible and which will kill you, maybe if you are sure that you know the basics of that you can pick a sword or try heavy lifting.''

''Alright'' I say ''What else can you tell me? Any other skill I should know?''

''I don't think so.'' He says scratching his chin ''Oh, right. There might be an obstacle track in training. You should try it out, you don't know when running through the woods might turn useful''

''Ok, this is gonna be harder than I thought'' I say.

Blight chuckles ''Don't worry kid, you'll be fine. Now go with Perc, it's 7:45, you need to get ready''

Perc is waiting for me in my room. There's an outfit inside a bag in my bed and when I enter Perc smiles like crazy and kisses me on both cheeks, which I still find uncomfortable.

''Oh, Nike. Is so nice to see you! How are you doing?'' he asks and before I can answer he keeps talking ''I have the perfect outfit for you to wear! Is right there on the bed, now go, get dressed you're already late! Go, go, go!''

Again I feel the urge to say 'Shut the hell up' but I bite my tongue pick up the outfit and head to the bathroom. The outfit is not bad; I'm actually starting to think Perc knows something about fashion, but I don't know anything about fashion so my opinion doesn't really count.

The outfit is completely black with a big 7 in green on the back of the shirt. There are also a few green lines on the side. When I come out Perc is like ''You look wonderful!'' and after plenty of compliments about how I look and him fixing my hair Nova takes me and Chloe to the training room.

We are the last ones there even though we arrived five minutes before eight. It's weird to be with all the other tributes knowing that almost all of them we'll be dead in a matter of weeks.

At 8 o'clock exactly a woman called Atala starts telling us about how the training will work. We'll spend two days here training all the different kinds of stations. At the third day we will have a private session with the Gamemakers and they will give us a score from 1 to 12, 1 been weaker than a plastic spoon, 12 been stronger than Hercules. She tells us exactly the same thing about survival skills that Blight told me and she says it's strictly forbidden to fight against other tributes, then she wishes us good luck and we start.

Chloe went to the camouflage station without even glancing at me so I'm guessing she didn't want to train with me here either. The careers go directly to the deadliest looking weapons and start to handle them easily. The rest of the tributes just scatter to all the different stations.

I go to the plants station and the trainer seems pleased to have a student. He teaches me like a 100 different plants some poisonous, some edible, some with healing properties and he teaches me which is which and then I have to divide them depending on what they do. I spend like three hours just sitting there learning every single property of the hundred plants he gave me.

It's worth it though, after learning the hundred plants with each property and name I feel like there's no plant I don't know, that has to be useful.

There's only an hour left before lunch so I decide not to do anything too important, like learning how to do snares. For some reason I really want to show off just a little bit. I'm guessing Blight's act confident thing is getting in my head. I decide to go to the weight lifting station, years of lifting tree trunks had made me strong, even though I don't look like it much, I must be kind of good in this thing.

Dante, the boy from 2, is there preparing a 250 pound weight. When he sees me he laughs like if me been here was just a big joke. That angers me, most of all because the careers think our lives are a freaking joke. I decide right then that I'm gonna beat this dude, even if it's just in weight lifting. I prepare the exact same weight as his, even though he must be at least 3 years older than me.

He stops smiling and looks at me like saying 'are you serious?'. Now is my turn to smile. That angers him and makes me pretty happy.

''Dante'' I say and he looks surprised that I'm talking with him ''Want to do a small competition?''

''What do you have in mind?'' he asks smiling again.

''Let's see who can lift this weight more times without stopping'' I say.

He laughs ''Fine, but you know you're going to lose, right?''

''I know'' I say smiling, but I'm actually more confident than I've been since I was reaped. I don't know how much a tree trunk weights but I'm sure it's more than 250 pounds.

We both lay on those beds and put our hands in the tube of the weights ''Ready?'' I ask Dante and he nods ''On the count of three. 1, 2, 3!''

We both start lifting the weight as fast as we can. I'm more excited than ever, it doesn't weight that much, but I'm certain Dante thinks the same thing so this can take a while. We spend like half an hour lifting it when I start to get very tired, I lift it a little more than 200 hundred times and I'm sweating like crazy, but so is Dante.

Twenty more minutes pass and I seriously think I'm gonna kill myself if this lasts much longer. Five more minutes, my arms are killing me. Two more minutes and my rhythm drops drastically, but there are only 3 more minutes before lunch time. Two more minutes and it happens. Dante drops the weight and falls down breathing heavily. I drop the weight a few minutes after and I have a triumphant smile on my face.

''I won!'' I say and I laugh happily. I realize that plenty of people had been watching our little competition and suddenly I feel a little bad for Dante. I just embarrassed him badly.

I walk up to him and I offer him my hand to help him stand up. ''Good game, man'' I say trying to sound as friendly as I can. Dante refuses my help and he glares at me before going with the other careers that immediately start bombing him with questions.

I go to a table and I start eating my lunch by myself. It sucks that I can't even talk with Chloe, who's the only person from home. I feel very lonely and whatever spark made me so confident while I competed against Dante is gone and I feel like crap.

The rest of the day passes without any other inconvenience. I go to the knot tying station and I ask the instructor to teach me everything he can in the short time we have about basic snares. I learn three different types of snares depending on the size of the animal and I stay there until I can do all of them with ease. By the time I'm done is practically time to leave so I just sit waiting for it to be time to go back to my quarters.

Finally the time comes and I and Chloe head back to the elevator in silence. ''What did you do in training?'' I ask her after the silence becomes too awkward.

''Just a few survival things'' she says shrugging and I'm glad she's talking to me ''I saw you beat the boy from district 2 lifting weights''

''It's not a big deal'' I say ''I'm just used to lifting heavy things, besides I almost lost''

''Well, I think it was great'' she says smiling and I blush.

I still don't know what's wrong with her or why she is so bipolar, but is nice to have a normal conversation with her as if we were friends. I could really use a friend right now.

When we arrive to our quarters Blight takes us to separate rooms and when he comes to my room he asks me what I did. I tell him everything. He looks annoyed that I tried to show off in front of everyone, but he also looks surprised that I was able to beat him.

''Well, not bad, Blondie'' he says smiling after I'm done ''You followed my instructions almost exactly, I think you'll be ok. Just remember, save the sword thing for the private session, got it''

''Yes'' I say as I yawn, I just realized how tired I am.

''If you want you can skip dinner, you probably want to sleep'' he says and I seriously feel like hugging him, but I control myself.

''Thanks Blight'' I say ''Good night''

I go to my bedroom I take off the outfit and climb into bed; I fall asleep after less than 5 seconds.

**I didn't really like this chapter much, but still I hope you all liked it and please tell me what you think. Remember to send me all the questions you can think of for Nike's interview with Caesar. Read and Review! **


	5. Training: Day 2

**Thanks to nb1998, Pax Cronin and North Viking for reviewing. You seriously made my day and to nb1998 thanks for sending me a question for the interviews. I'm unbelievably tired, because I was in a summer camp the entire week with my school. It was awesome, but I'm exhausted so if there are more mistakes than usual it's probably because of that.**

**Training: Day 2:**

I wake up a little later than I did yesterday, which I love. I put the outfit that I wore yesterday on (obviously freshly cleaned and ironed) and I head to the dining room to eat breakfast. I'm starving and I'm starting to regret not eating dinner yesterday. Almost everyone are already there, except for Blight, I guess he didn't need to tell me anything else about training and decided to sleep in. Lucky him.

''Good morning'' I say as I sit down and immediately start filling my plate with eggs bacon and rolls. I love food, and sleeping. God, how am I ever going to win this games?

''Good morning, sweetie!'' Nova says and to be honest, I'm starting to like that she calls me ''Sweetie''. It makes me feel like a little kid ''I hope you don't mind that I let you sleep in''

''Not at all'' I say ''Where's Blight?''

''Asleep, are you ready for training?'' she says.

''Yeah, I was…'' I start to say but she interrupts me ''Good'' she says and takes my arm and pulls me to the elevator ''We're already late we need to hurry!''

I'm a little annoyed because I didn't get to finish my rolls, but I follow her. Chloe is already in the elevators and she nods when I walk in. I think Chloe is the most bipolar person on the planet, but at least she acknowledges that I'm here,

Again we are the last ones there, but it doesn't matter since we are still five minutes early. This time Atala only wishes us luck and we start to go to all the different stations. I'm not sure what else I can learn that can help me survive so I just go back to the knot tying and the plants station and I see if I can remember everything they taught me. I do, which is a relief. Learning all that again would kill me.

I go to the starting fire station. I'm supposed to be able to turn on a fire without matches, since I have been working with wood for the last six years, but I find it way harder than I thought. It takes me half an hour to learn how to start the fire and I spend another hour practicing until I handle it almost perfectly.

Even though Blight said I should focus on survival skills, I'm unbelievably bored so I decide to try out some weapons. Although I stay as far away from a sword as I can. I go to the knife throwing station. My accuracy is worse than… I don't know, anything you can think of. Once I threw one of the knives to a target and it hit right in the middle… Of another target like ten feet to the opposite side. I'm not even sure how that's possible. I do learn something interesting tough, the little boy from 12, Kyle, has a wicked accuracy and he can throw the knife from a 20 yard distance without missing.

Finally is time for lunch and I'm starving. I'm hoping they have rolls. I sit down in one of the tables, still alone, but I'm surprised when both tributes from 6 sit down with me.

''Hey'' I say cautiously, not really sure what they want.

''Hello, I'm Katherine'' The girl says.

''Well, I'm Nike'' I say ''I don't want to sound rude, but what are you doing here?''

''I don't think this was such a good idea'' the boy whispers to Katherine. Not a good idea? I wonder what he's talking about.

''Shut up'' Katherine says to him and then turns to me ''We were wondering if you wanted to ally with us in the games. We've seen what you can do and you might be useful''

Now I understand. The weight lifting thing, plenty of people saw that. I guess that made a target for some and a chance of survival for others ''I'm flatter, but I'm sorry, if you don't mind I would like to do this by myself.''

Katherine scowls and looks as if I just slapped her very, very hard. ''Alright, spiky'' she says and I'm guessing the spiky thing comes from my hair ''handle this crap yourself''

She lefts and I'm very stunned and I wonder if all girls are so bipolar. At least Johanna isn't like that. ''Sorry about that, man'' the boy says ''she's just scared, like everyone else. When she saw that you beat the boy from 2, I guess she got excited''

''That was pure luck'' I say ''Every single day I carry trees heavier than that. Anything else I'll try he could beat me in a flash''

''I guess you proved that point in the knife throwing station'' he says smiling, which makes him look much younger and nicer ''How does a person fails that bad? I don't think anyone could do it even if they were trying''

''Shut up'' I say but I'm smiling too, I'm really starting to like this guy ''It's way harder than it looks''

''Sure, man. Whatever'' he says ''Anyway, Katherine is looking at me with a very scary expression, I should go. Just good luck out there and please don't ever throw a knife again''

I finish eating by myself after the guy left and I think about what to do next. I think I'll try the obstacle track, you never know when running for your life at top speed in a road full of things may be useful.

After I'm done I head to the obstacle track and wait for my time to give it a try. The obstacle track is divided in three zones. It would normally be easy if you could expect what is going to happen, but just as it is in the games there are some apprentices of gamemakers controlling the zones and changing them as they want. A zone that for someone was a desert for the next guy might be a forest. It looks very hard to complete and all the people I've seen trying to complete it so far hadn't managed to do it.

In front of me in the line are the girls from district 1, 2 and 4. The female careers. They all glare at me. I really shouldn't have beaten Dante in the heavy lifting thingy. Behind me Katherine and the boy from her district, which I should ask him his name, stand in line and Katherine glares at me too. Look at that, I'm good at pissing people off.

I see how all the careers jump and run and practically fly across the track, avoiding everything in their way as if it were as easy as running through a flat field. As my turn gets nearer I start to get more and more nervous. I'm scared that I might hurt myself on it. I know, I'm so brave.

Finally it's my turn and the dude in charge tells me to start whenever I'm ready. I take a deep breath and I run to the first zone. There are many pine trees, all of them very close to each other. There are branches, logs and rocks all over the floor. I try to run through the field as best as I can but I'm going very slowly so I have an idea. I impulse myself with one of the trees and I land on another one and so on. I jump from tree to tree and it's working perfectly. I'm going way faster now and it's also fun because I feel like a ninja.

I enter the next zone and it's a snowy forest. ''This is easy'' I think. As long as I step light and don't sink into the snow I have nothing to worry about. Of course, this is not as easy as it looked. A tree breaks in half to my right and I stop and jump it after it falls. I keep running a huge tree falls completely and it's too late for me to stop like I did at first so I roll underneath it and keep running. I'm about to finish the zone when the biggest tree yet breaks right in front of me and I catch it. It's the heaviest thing I've ever carried. I throw it to the side and I whisper ''Thank God for weight lifting'' then I run to the next zone as fast as I can. Everything is going great I think I might be able to break the record the careers established. That won't give me more enemies to worry about.

The next zone is hard. There are plenty of small cliffs in it. I jump a lot of them but after a while they become too big for me to jump so I grab the tree branches as if they were monkey bars and swing from branch to branch. I'm almost done and I can feel a smile creeping across my face. Then I stop mid track. Right in front of is the biggest cliff yet. It's more or less 10 feet wide and 15 feet deep. There are no branches over the cliff so there's no way for me to do what I just did. I breathe deeply, I take a step back and run to the cliff and jump as far as I can.

I know right after my feet leave the ground that I'm not going to make it. My chest hits the border of the cliff hard and I can feel something cracking. It gets very hard to breathe and I try to hold on to something but there's only snow so I slip, but not before my chin hits the border too. Next thing I know I'm laying on the ground. My back and my chest are killing me and I think I got a concussion when my chin hit the border. I hear a lot of voices calling my name, but the only sound that sticks in my mind, besides my groaning, is laughter. The careers, they're laughing at my pain. I suddenly have the urge to stand up and kick all of their asses, but I can't. The pain in my chest is too strong.

''Seven!'' A familiar voice says very close to me. I open my eyes. Everything looks blurry, but I recognize him. It's the boy from 6. I'm not sure, but I think he looks actually concerned ''Can you stand up?'' he asks. I try, but I feel something in my lungs that hurts like hell. I spit blood on the ground and now I'm certainly freaking out ''Shit'' the boy says and that doesn't really helps ''Hold on'' after saying that the boy picks me up from the ground and starts running.

''Where's the infirmary?'' he yells at someone, but I can't see anything and I think I'm passing out. I don't know what the person answers, I don't even know if he answers. But the boy from 6 does because he starts running again. He runs for a while and then he lays me down on a bed and yells at someone.

A doctor, I'm guessing a doctor, comes and checks on me, doing pressure on my chest. When he does I groan and I feel like punching him. ''Broken ribs'' the doctor says ''At least two of them, we'll have to put you in surgery young man''.

They inject anesthesia in my arm. ''I guess I'll get going'' the boy from 6 says. ''Wait!'' I yell and he stops ''What's your name?''.

''James'' he says and just then the anesthesia kicks in and everything turns black.

I wake up and it's dark outside. That means it's been about 5 or 6 hours since the accident. The door opens and the doctor steps in, followed by Blight and Nova.

''You had three broken ribs and a slight concussion, Nike'' he says ''But don't worry, as long as you don't move much until tomorrow you'll be good as new''

''Thanks, sir'' I say.

''You're welcome'' the doctor says and walks out of the room.

''Well, well Blondie'' Blight says ''You managed to almost die even before the games, good job''

''Be quiet, Blight'' Nova says ''How are you doing, sweetie?''

''James'' I say and she stares at me looking confused ''That's the guy that got me out of there. James, district 6. Please tell him I'm very grateful for what he did'' I'm a little surprised because my voice is very hoarse and it sounds as if I'm begging.

''I'll make sure to tell him, sweetie'' she says.

''Blondie, tomorrow's a big day'' Blight says ''Tomorrow you'll have your private session! Try to get some sleep, will you''

I don't know if they inject another drug in me, but right after he says that I fall into a dreamless sleep.

**This chapter was especially dedicated to Pax Cronin. He kind of gave me the idea ;). Please read and review and remember to send me the questions, as many as you want. I really need them soon; the interviews are in the chapter after the next one. Well, I hope you n all liked it.**


	6. Private session

**Thanks to nb1998, Pax Cronin, tvd1002, jabberjaymockingbird99, Hunger games luver, Kingdomkeeper365, runnergirl11234 and D1N054UR for reviewing. The list of reviewers is getting longer. I like that. Random question time, is anyone a fan of soccer? Because I am, especially when Germany is playing. Sadly Germany lost against Italy this Thursday, that sucks. Sorry for that, please enjoy the chapter .**

**Private session:**

When I wake up it's a little before noon, but I feel like if I had slept only for 5 minutes. My chest doesn't hurt anymore and neither does my chin so I guess the surgery went well. I'm not in the hospital anymore; they probably moved me to my quarters in the morning. I stand up and put on my training clothes and head to the dining room to eat a late breakfast. Everyone is already there, they must've all sleep in because they are eating breakfast too.

''Look who finally woke up!'' Blight says ''Have a sit, Blondie''

I sit down on the table and serve myself a little of everything and start eating. I don't think I ate dinner yesterday after surgery so I'm glad that there's so much food there. Nobody really talks and we just eat quietly.

''Alright, your private sessions will be in half an hour'' Blight starts to say, mostly to me. I think he already told Chloe whatever he'll tell me ''Try not to screw up, will ya?''

''Gee, thanks for showing so much confidence'' I say rolling my eyes.

''Hey, you might annoy me, but I'm still trying to keep you both alive'' he says ''Chloe, I'm about to tell Nike what to do in the session, you said you wanted to be coached separately, so I need you to leave, you're not allowed to hear what Nike will do''

Chloe nods and heads to her quarters without even glancing at me. ''Well, you already know that I want you to pick a sword'' he says after Chloe leaves ''You'll have enough time, take your time to pick the right sword. Look for one that isn't so heavy so you can control it as easily as a tree branch, if you do that you'll be alright. Fight with one of the dummies and that should be enough to get you a seven''

A seven is certainly more than I expect to get, but I nod and try to act confident, just like Blight told me I should act ''Sounds like a plan''

''You should get going, sessions are in only 10 minutes.'' He says

I stand up and start to leave feeling very nervous, even though the plan sounds very reliable ''And Nike'' Blights says and I stop in my track, mostly because I think this is the first time he has ever called me by my name ''Good luck'' he says and I smile feeling a bit better.

I go with Nova to the elevator and me, Chloe and her go to the place where the training would be. Both, me and Chloe are looking nervous and we don't speak at all, although it's not weird that Chloe doesn't want to speak with me. We arrived and we are almost the first one there, only the tributes from 12 stand there looking rather calm.

Nova leaves after wishing us luck and the place starts to fill with all the other tributes. Most of them are like me, quite and nervous looking, but some like the career and maybe a few others are looking confident and talking about all the awesome things they can do. It is sickening. How the careers speak about all the ways they can kill someone, how much of an honor been in the games is, how easy it'll be to win, to kill. It makes me angry that people actually think been here is something good, something to be proud of, and not just a sick abomination the Capitol created to hide their weakness.

They start to call the tributes at 12:30 o'clock sharp, starting with Clive, from district 1. Every tribute stays there for about twenty minutes, depending about where they come from or how interesting they are. For example, both from tree are done after only 10 minutes, but Dante is almost an entire hour inside. They call James and I wish him luck and he smiles. I'm starting to like James, I hate that. I don't want to get close to anyone and then having to see them die.

Finally they call my name and I stand up ''Good luck'' I tell Chloe, she doesn't answer, but I see a small smile creeping across her face. I still think she's weird, but if I want anyone else to win I'll prefer that it's her, that would help Johanna and my dad. I walk in and I see all the Gamemakers in a balcony watching my every move. I feel uncomfortable, but I really can't tell them to look away because I'm nervous.

I head to the place where all the swords are lined up. There are a lot of different types of swords there. There's a particularly scary one that measures more than I do, I definitely won't pick that one. It takes me about five minutes to decide, but I finally pick up a three foot long silver sword. It's very light and it's sharp on the sides and the point. I hold it in my hands and just as Blight said I really think I can control it as easily as I can control a tree branch.

I head to one of the dummies in the knife throwing station and I take a deep breath. I slash with my sword and I'm surprise about how fast I can move it, it seems that I'm also very strong with it because its head falls off right after my sword touches it. I smile. This is way easier than I thought.

I slash and thrust the sword into the dummy plenty of times for about fifteen minutes. I'm breathing heavily and the dummy looks pretty bad. Its head, legs and arms are lying on the floor, the latter completely destroyed and broken. The rest of the dummy looks more like an ugly piece of cloth, full of holes and pretty much content less.

''_Should be enough to get you a seven''_ I hear Blight voice saying in my head. I don't know why, but I feel that what Blight said might not be true. Fighting against a dummy is something anyone can do. I need a real adversary if I want to get a good score. I look around the room and I see a few of them. Avoxes. There are here to be fighting partners, I think, maybe Blight didn't know about them so he didn't told me to fight against them.

I walk up to one of them. I don't know why, but I think this isn't a regular avox job. I think this is more of a punishment. The one I walk up to doesn't look at me in the eye, neither do any of them. Now that I think about it not one avox had looked at me in the eye since I got here, maybe that's just some stupid rule of the Capitol.

''Would you look at me in the eye?'' I tell the one I wanted to fight with.

He looks up and looks at me straight in the eye. His eyes are dark brown, like the ones from most people in district 7. Could this guy be from district 7? No, I don't think so. It's probably just a coincidence. ''Is there any way you can tell me your name?'' I say trying to sound as polite as possible.

He points to his chest and I see a small sticker with the name ''Pollux'' written on it. ''Well, Pollux'' I say ''Would you help me out here?'' I say pointing to the sword. He nods and takes out his own sword. I look up at the Gamemakers and they look more interested than they were five seconds ago.

Pollux and I raise our swords and prepare ourselves to fight. He's the first one to strike. He aims to my head, but I stop the strike with my sword. He's strong and I'm sure he has fought with a sword before. He slashes again and tries to hit me under the ribs, but I jump backwards and strike to his neck he blocks and tries kicking me in the legs, probably trying to knock me down, but I jump and strike again. He ducks and tries to slash at my legs but I block the hit.

We fight on like this for maybe 15 more minutes and I'm sweaty, out of breath and tired, but I still haven't beaten him and that's what I'm going for. Finally I see my chance. He moves his hand a little to adjust the sword, but I take that moment to hit the hilt of his sword with the point of mine. He drops his sword and I take that moment of surprise to kick him behind his knees making him fall on the ground. Before he knew it, the tip of my sword was in his undefended chest.

He looks terrified but I don't know why. The fight is over; I'm not going to hurt him. I look up at the Gamemakers and see that they seem to be waiting for something else to happen. That's weird. I drop the sword and I offer Pollux my hand to help him up. He looks surprised for a second, but he accepts my hand and I help him up.

''Great fight'' I say smiling.

He smiles and looks very relieved, I still don't know why. He then does a hand gesture like saying ''You fought great too''. He walks back to where all the avoxes are and stands there just as he did when I asked him to fight with me. ''Thank you, Nike Midas'' The head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane says ''That's enough, you can go back to your quarters. You'll know the results tonight''

I nod. I leave the sword in the same place where I found it and get out of there. After I'm out I jump and raise my fist in the air. That was amazing! I'm almost sure that I earned that seven, maybe even an eight. Surely someone would like to sponsor me. I head to the quarters smiling from ear to ear.

''Nike!'' Nova says when I walk in ''What happened? How did it go?''

I tell them what happened. 'I thought I should fight with an actual adversary, so I talked with one of the avoxes…''

Blight suddenly spits most some of the wine he was drinking and it falls on my shirt. ''You killed an avox?'' he says looking surprised and alarmed.

''What? No!'' I say ''Why on earth would I kill the avox?''

''You didn't kill him?'' Blight asks looking a little relieved.

''No, of course not'' I say ''I just fought against him and once I was able to disarm him the Gamemakers told me to leave. But seriously, why would I kill him?''

''Blondie, the avoxes there, are there because they did something wrong and they are been punished'' he explains ''their punish is dead, usually the careers kill them, if they win or nobody fights against them, they're given another chance. You were supposed to kill that boy''

I'm stunned. The tributes are supposed to kill them? That's the creepiest thing ever. How can the tributes kill someone like that, without any reason? It's not as if they're trying to survive either. It's just plain murder. And the Capitol allows it, not just that, they celebrate it. That's just… wrong.

It's 9 o'clock. We just ate breakfast and we are about to watch the training scores. All the confidence I had after my private session left a long time ago. I'm sitting in the couch with Nova, Blight, Perc, Chloe and Thrain waiting for the results. I'm playing with my mother's ring again, which had become a hobby for me.

Finally they start to tell the results. They start with district 1. Clive gets a 10 and the girl gets an 8. Amazing results, of course. Dante gets an 11, I bet he'll be the highest score, and the girl from his district gets a 9. Both from 3 get a 5. The girl from 4 gets a 10 and the boy a 9. The girl from 3 gets a 7 and the boy a 6. Katherine, from 6, gets a 7 and James gets an 8.

Chloe got a 7, an excellent score, but she doesn't seem to care much. Had she given up? Or did she expected something better? Now it's my turn. I cross my fingers and I pray for at least a 7. They give me the results and the number 9 flashes across the screen. 9! For heaven's sake a 9! When the number finally sinks in I find myself jumping up and down on the couch laughing. I probably look like a five year old, but I don't care.

''Nice, Blondie'' Blight says smiling, looking relieved.'' But calm down, you're going to break the couch'' I calm down a little after he says that, but I'm still smiling.

Most of the other tributes get a score under 7 and to be honest I don't really care, the only score I'm still interested in is the one from the little boy from 12. When he comes I'm surprised to see he got an 6. That's fantastic, most of all because his only 12, but I guess I should've expected it considering how well he managed to throw a knife.

''You both did incredible!'' Nova says.

''Not bad, guys'' Blight says ''To be honest I was expecting a 5 from both of you. Now you should sleep, tomorrow are the interviews. That is _so_ not an easy day''

I say goodbye to them and head to my quarters practically skipping. I think this is the happiest I've felt since I got reaped. I change and lay down in my bed falling asleep five seconds after my head hits the pillow. That night my dreams are filled with dancing colorful number nines. I think that's the weirdest dream I've ever had, but it's the best too.

**This was a happy chapter. That's cool; I think that's the emotion I like the best. I hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to read and review . Also I have good news! This will be a double update, kind of. Today in the afternoon I'll post the interviews (which I haven't written yet) and that way next week we can start with the bloodbath.**


	7. Interviews

**Thanks to tvd1002, Pax Cronin, North Viking and FireBreadandSnares for reviewing. I'm sorry I couldn't update yesterday like I said I would, but still this is a super early update. I hope you like it.**

**Interviews:**

Nova wakes me at like six o'clock and I seriously consider killing myself. How can people _voluntarily _wake up this early? In the district at least my shift started in the afternoon and I could sleep in. I go to the dining room and see that everyone is already there. Again, how can people wake up this early?

''Hello, Blondie!'' Blight says and I'm sure that he drank a redbull or something, because he sounds very hyperactive ''Come here, today's a big day!''

''Well listen up'' he tells me and Chloe once I sit down and eat as much as I can without dying ''Today is the interview, I think this is the most important part of the games, beside the actual games of course, so try not to screw up. If you can cause an impression and get the audience to like you, then you'll have nothing to worry about, someone will sponsor you and believe me, a sponsor can mean the difference between life and death''

''Today will be a very boring day, I'll promise you that'' he continues ''Me and Nova are going train you during the entire day so you don't make a fool out of yourselves in front of all Panem, we don't want that. Nike you'll start with me, Chloe you'll go with Nova. We'll switch after lunch, understood?''

We nod and then head with our respective teacher. I'm a little annoyed that I have to start with Blight, since I find him very annoying, but I might as well get it over with. He leads me to a small room that I hadn't really been in before, there are 2 couches like the ones there will be in the actual interview. Blight sits down in one of them and I sit in the other.

''I'm still going to play it as if I'm confident, right?'' I ask him.

''Well, that would be the best choice, but we need to see how you mange yourself in an interview. Who knows? Maybe you're a good actor and you can at least fake to be confident, still it's better if everything is more believable'' Blight says.

''I see, so you'll just ask me questions and you'll figure what angle I'll use in the actual interview?''

''Pretty much'' he says ''But don't get too cocky, if we can't find an angle for you, you'll have to improvise''

Blight starts to ask me the kind of questions Caesar might ask me. I try to answer them as confidently as I can, but I really can't do it. I don't think I'm better than others, on the contrary I almost never show off or anything. It takes Blight like 3 questions to know playing it confidently won't work for me.

''How did you manage to look confident in all your public appearances, but here you have the confidence of a plastic spoon?'' he asks me and I glare at him ''Fine kid, don't get mad. Let's try something else, act confidently and modest at the same time.''

''How on earth can someone be confident and modest at the same time?'' I ask

''I don't know'' he says ''you said that you're normally modest, so try to be yourself with a hint of confidence, like if you really think that you can win this thing. That's not that hard, is it?'' We try that and it actually works way better. Every once in a while I do a very confident anti-me comment. I can completely handle that.

''Not bad, Blondie!'' Blight says after the millionth question. My head hurts from remembering all the things I did in the district, I really doubt Caesar is going to expend so much time talking about my childhood ''You might even get some sponsors if you do it in the interviews like you're doing it here''

''Might?'' I ask suddenly feeling very nervous.

''Well it isn't a perfect plan, but it's the best we can do, so deal with it'' he says ''Now, come on, lunch is in 10 minutes.''

We head to the dining room and I start eating like crazy again. I'm sure that once I get home, if I get home, I'm going to weigh at least 20 more pounds. Nova and Chloe come after five minutes and Chloe looks very tired, I wonder what they did. Once we are done eating Blight takes Chloe to the small room I was in and Nova leads me to another room slightly bigger than the one I was before.

For the next 3 hours Nova teaches me everything, and I mean _everything_, about all the manners I should have during the interview. She tells me how to sit, how to speak, how to look at someone in the eye and a bunch of other things that I find pretty useless.

''Come on, Nike'' she says ''we are almost done!'' she says that once every twenty minutes and after the third time I stop believing her. Nova spends the next hour teaching me how to smile. That's actually just smiling more. I usually smile a lot, but the muscles in my face are in pain after smiling so much.

Finally times up and I can get out of there. ''Remember to smile more!'' Nova says cheerfully when I'm at the door ''You have the sexiest smile ever!'' That's not awkward at all, I think as I blush because of that.

I eat a very quick dinner and I go with my prep team so they can prepare me for the interviews. They fix my hair and paint a green streak on it. These guys are seriously obsessed with the color green. They also want to put make up on me, but I fight for a few minutes with them until I'm able to convince them not to paint my face like a coloring book.

Once they're done Perc comes in ''You look great, Nike'' he says ''Good work, guys. I love what you did with his hair. Now could you leave us alone?'' My prep team gets out of the room after praising me a lot and they leave me alone with Perc.

Perc shows me what I'm going to wear and it's very classy. The outfit consists in a black dressing shoes, pants and jacket, the shirt is the same color of the streak in my hair and so is the tie. After I put it one I think I look pretty good, most of all because the streak, the tie and the shirt all match with my green eyes.

''This looks great, Perc'' I say smiling at him.

''We tried keeping it as simple as possible'' he says ''we thought you might like that''

I thank him and he guides me to the seats the tributes will be using. Most of the other tributes are already there and they are looking pretty good. I sit down and wait for the show to start. It takes about half an hour, but I see Caesar Flickerman making his way up the stage. He's been the games host for 35 years and every year he dyed his hair a different color. This year it's a bright green.

He entertains the audience a little with a few jokes and then the interviews start. They start with the guys from 1. Clive is acting very confident and the girl's angle is obviously playing it as cute, but deadly. Then there's the guys from 2. The girl is very charismatic and Dante looks murderous and very, very scary. And so on, I kind of zoom out for some of them until I see it's James's turn. James actually it's pretty good, he makes the audience laugh, tells us some very interesting things about his family and all in all, he's one of the bests yet.

Then there's Chloe. She's still playing it humbly and she's also doing a good job. She's making everybody think that she doesn't think she's much and when Caesar asks her about her score she just says ''It was mere luck'' but she smiles at the crowd and they go nuts. Now it's my turn. I'm very nervous. Thank God I don't sweat when I'm nervous or this would've looked pretty bad. I walk up the stage and I smiled at the crowd just like Nova told me to and the cheer. I shake Caesar's hand and point at his hair ''Look at that, we match!'' I say referring to my streak and his hair and the crowd laughs, then I take a seat.

''So, Nike'' Caesar starts ''You have a very weird name''

''Don't say that!'' I say obviously acting as if he hurt my feelings, which makes the crowd laugh ''I love my name!''

''Really? How come?'' he asks.

''I don't want to bore you with a lecture'' I say ''but it actually means Victory''

It is true, some years ago I ask my dad what my name meant and he told me that a lot of years ago there was a language called greek and my name meant ''Victory'' in it. Ever since I've been really fond of my name.

''Wow'' Caesar says looking surprised ''That should get your hopes up''

''Not really'' I say ready for a very anti-me comment ''My hopes are already as high as they can get''

Caesar laughs ''Let's talk about training'' he says ''I heard a very interesting rumor that you defeated a career in a weight lifting challenge, it's that true?''

''Oh, I didn't know you were supposed to know that…'' I say ''But yeah, it is true''

''And let me ask you, does that gives you hope that you can beat the careers in the arena too?'' he asks.

I haven't really thought about that ''I don't know'' I say ''But at the top of my head, I think no, it doesn't raises my hope. In fact I think I became their number 1 target'' The crowd laughs again and I smile at them.

''Something else'' he says ''After that challenge, did anyone want to ally with you?''

''Yes'' I say ''Two people actually, but I said no''

''Why?'' he says ''are you too good for them?''

''God, no'' I say ''I don't want to ally with anyone, no matter who they are. You see I get close to people fast, I don't want to get close to someone and then having to see them die''

The crowd goes ''ahhh'' as if I just asked a girl to marry me ''That's very noble'' Caesar says ''One more thing about training, what can you tell us about your amazing score? It really surprises us all, most of all because you're one of our youngest tributes this year''

''I don't think I should tell you'' I say ''So let's just say, I got that score for doing something you wouldn't expect from someone from my district''

''So, not an ax?''

''Not an ax''

''And not a chainsaw?''

''Not a chainsaw''

''Aw, come on Nike, you're killing us'' he says and I laugh. ''Nike, you're too young to be engaged, care to tell us about that ring?''

I was playing with my mother's ring again and I didn't notice ''Oh'' I say looking at it ''This was my mom's''

''Did she gave it to you when she went to say goodbye?'' he asks.

''No, she died when I was young.'' I say ''My dad gave it to me''

''I'm sorry'' he says looking a little sad and I smile like saying 'It's okay' ''So, only your dad went to say goodbye?''

''No, a friend from work called Douglas also came'' I say ''And of course my best friend Johanna''

''Johanna!'' he says ''That's a girl's name, is she your girlfriend?''

I laugh very hard, just the thought of Johanna been my girlfriend is so funny ''I wish!'' I say and the crowd laughs. I can practically hear Johanna's voice laughing and saying 'you promise you wouldn't turn into a Capitol snob!' too late for that. ''No, I'm kidding. She has just been my best friend since I was nine''

''Why is that I don't believe you?'' he says laughing.

''What?'' I say ''No, I swear she's just my friend''

''Sure'' he says sarcastically ''just your friend'' right after he says that the bell rings signaling the interview time is over

''Aw, too bad times over.'' He says then he takes my hand and raises it in the air ''Nike Midas everybody!'' he says and the crowd cheers like crazy and I just smile and wave before going back to my seat.

To be honest I completely zoom out the rest on the interviews and I only get out of my trance during the last interview, the one from Kyle. Kyle doesn't look nervous at all and he wins the crowd in seconds, he makes jokes, he answers optimistically about everything. It's impressive how easily he won the crowd, the kid certainly has a way with words. That's it for the interviews, Caesar does a few more jokes and the he wishes us good night and closes the show.

Me, Chloe, Blight and our prep team head to our quarters. ''Good job, guys'' Blight says ''Just try to get a good night sleep, tomorrow are the games''

We both head to our quarters and I realize that Blight is right; tomorrow we are going to the arena. I might be dead by tomorrow.

''Chloe! Wait a second!'' I say running after her before she locks the door of her quarters. She stops and looks at me faking annoyance.

''What?'' she asks me.

I honestly don't know what I want to say, I guess I just want to say goodbye since tomorrow we might not see each other. Then I figure out what I want to tell her. I want to apologize. ''Chloe, ever since this thing started you've been kind of cold to me.'' I start to say ''I don't understand why, but I thought that maybe I did something to you, or I said something offensive, so I just wanted to say sorry''

Chloe looks very surprised, but I think I'm even more surprised because of what happens next. She hugs me. ''Nike, I'm so sorry'' she says ''I didn't want you to think that is just that… like you said in your interview, I didn't want to get close to anyone''

When she lets me go I can see that there are tears in her eyes. ''So, um, good night'' I say a little nervously still a little confused about what just happened.

''Good night, Nike'' she says rubbing her eyes and closing the door of her quarters. I walk back to my quarters, but even then I know that I'm not going to get any sleep. Tomorrow are the games. Tomorrow might be the last day of my life.

**That chapter was incredibly long. I hope you all liked the interviews, which I found a little hard to write. Still I hope this was a good chapter and please read and review. Next week is the bloodbath! I'm very nervous about writing the actual games, so wish me luck ;). **


	8. The Bloodbath

**Thanks to tvd1002, Pax Cronin, hunger games luver, fkot, , FireBreadandSnares, pineapplepower, JonB-asl-c-w and nb1998 for reviewing! You guys are great!**

**Pineapplepower: Hey, you asked me in your review to check your story, but when I went to your profile to check it out, it was gone! And do you think you could activate PMing, that way it'll be easier for me to talk to you.**

**Hunger games luver: I would really like if you could create an account, it's really easy and that way I could answer to your reviews and you could follow the story .**

**Without anything else to add, I hope you all like the beginning of the games.**

**The Bloodbath:**

In the morning, after breakfast they're supposed to take us to the hovercraft that will take us to the arena. As me, Chloe, Nova and Blight go to the place where the hovercraft will be I think about all the different ways I can get killed today. I know, that's very optimistic. A ladder drops for me and Chloe. Chloe takes it and it holds her there and it goes up.

''Well, Blondie'' Blight says ''Good luck; you've done a great job this past few days. I'm proud to say I'm your coach''

I'm speechless, to be completely honest, even though Blight was really helping us out, I was sure he couldn't care less if we lived or died. I guess I was wrong. I hug him tightly and he seems surprised but he hugs me back. ''Thanks for everything, Blight'' I say.

''Goodbye, sweetie'' Nova says and it surprises me that there are tears in her eyes ''Try to come back, ok?''

I nod and hug her too. Then I step on the ladder and it freezes me in place taking me into the hovercraft that will take me to the arena.

They sit us in front of one another. Dante is right in front of me, glaring the whole time. That isn't good at all to calm me down. A peacekeeper comes and asks boringly for our arms and then injects something in them. ''Give me your arm'' she tells me. ''What is that?'' I ask giving her my arm. ''A tracker, that way we'll know where you are at all times'' Right after she says that I feel the needle piercing my arm as I feel a sharp pain. The rest of the trip is uneventful, after an hour or so we land and two peacekeepers lead me down a hallway and take me to a small room. There I see a familiar face.

''Perc!'' I say excitedly. I'm unbelievably nervous so seeing someone friendly is fantastic.

''Hello, Nike'' he says ''Are you nervous?''

''No'' I say rolling my eyes and feeling very Johanna-like.

Perc laughs ''Don't worry, Nike. You'll be okay, I have complete faith in you''

We sit quietly there afterwards, until some peacekeepers bring me the clothes I'm supposed to wear, obviously made specifically for me and for these games. Blight takes the outfit out and tells me to change. The outfit consist in various layers. First a gray shirt with a turtle neck, a white hoodie and a black leather jacket. The pants look just like regular jeans but they are filled with warm, soft fur. And the shoes are black, leather boots. I feel warm just looking at it.

''Somewhere cold?'' I ask Perc, asking about the Arena of course.

''I don't know, so it seems'' he answers as he finishes fixing my outfit. ''Take care of this, alright?'' he adds holding my mother's ring and hiding it under my shirt. I nod; of course I would take care of it.

Avoxes bring us food. I thank them and try to eat as much as I can. Finding food in the arena will not be an easy task, I should eat a lot, but I'm too nervous to be hungry. I eat too little in Capitol standards, but a lot in district 7 standards so I think I'll be alright.

''All the tributes, please step into the platforms'' a pleasant voice says coming from the speakers.

I stand up and I start breathing heavily. ''Be careful out there, okay?'' Perc says ''It's been a pleasure to be your stylist'' then he holds his hand for me to shake. I take his hand and pull him into a hug. I don't know where all these hugs came from, but since I might be dead in a minute it just feels right.

Then I step on the platform and take one last look at the last person I'll see in a long time that doesn't want to kill me. Suddenly the platform starts to sink and everything turns black. About ten seconds later I see the sunlight and the first thing that hits me is the sudden cold, it must be like 2 degrees.

When my eyes adjust to the light the first thought that crosses my mind is that this isn't such a bad place to die. All 24 of us are standing in a big meadow covered in light white snow; we are all surrounding the golden Cornucopia that is filled with weapons and supplies. All around us is a huge forest, filled with pine trees and beyond the forest a beautiful mountain with snowy peaks. Right in front of me is the biggest peak of all. That's where I want to go.

I have sixty seconds to decide how to get there. My first thought is to run to the side, enter the forest and surround the meadow, that way I wouldn't have to be part of the bloodbath, but that would take forever and I wouldn't have supplies or weapons to defend myself. My other choice is to go through the bloodbath, pick a bag or a knife and run to that side of the forest, but of course I'd end up in the middle of the fight. I make my mind, I'm going to go through, and if I survive it'll be the best choice. I adjust my feet on the platform to run.

The gong sounds and I take off. I don't think I've ever run this fast in my life. I'm halfway to the forest when I see a spear coming towards me from the corner of my eye; I throw myself to the floor and look to the side to see where it landed. Bad idea, because I see how the spear goes through the neck of the boy from 5. I shake my head and see a small bag on the floor, since I'm still laying there I take it, stand up and keep running as I strap the bag to my waist.

Suddenly I feel something hitting me and knocking me to the ground. I look up to see the huge girl from 1. ''Say your goodbyes, Spiky'' she says smiling evilly as she kneels by my side with a huge knife in her hands. She tries to thrust the knife in my chest, but right as it's about to hit me I catch it with both off my hands, I feel a sharp pain in my palms and see my own blood covering the blade of the knife. The girl from 1 is surprised that I was able to stop her and I take that second of confusion to kick her in the chest as hard as I can. She flies backwards and lands on her back. I don't stay to see if she stands up, because I start running again to the forest, the knife still in my hands.

When I enter the forest the first thing that hits me is the overwhelming smell of the pine trees. I love pine trees and I feel like hugging one, but I can still hear the fighting so I decide to get as far from there as possible. After running another mile or so I sit on the floor, my back against a tree and check the things I was able to pick up.

The knife is very simple but still as deadly as a knife can be, it is wickedly sharp and it is still covered in blood, I strap it to my belt. The little bag I took is filled with some very useful things, there's a piece of rope that will come in handy when doing snares, a water bottle, a small bandage and a pair of black leather gloves, which reminds me my hands. I look at them and the sight is pretty ugly. On both of my hands there's one single very deep, very bloody gash.

I stand up and try to find a lake or something like that. It takes me about half an hour but I find a frozen lake. I'm hoping that underneath the ice there's water. It takes me the knife, a big rock and a few curse words to open a hole in the ice big enough for me to get my hands into. I sink my hands in the freezing water and try to clean the wound as well as I can without getting hypothermia. Once they're relatively clean I split the bandage in half and cover both of my hands with it, afterwards I put the gloves on, because the cold became unbearable. Then I fill my water bottle with water, hoping that it isn't poisonous.

I want to go to the mountains, I feel that not many other tributes will be there and I could set up a camp there. After packing my things I keep going. Walking through the trees is easier than I expected, I'm not fat, so walking through all the snow without sinking is very easy and the cold keeps me from sweating a lot. I love the cold, although I know for sure I won't be saying that during the night. I guess I love it because district 7 is on the north side of the country and it's usually pretty cold, also my birthday, the 27th of November, is right in the beginning of winter.

_Boom! _The sound of a canon gets me out of my thoughts. The canon signalizes a tribute's death, which means the bloodbath in the Cornucopia must be over. I stop walking and count the canons. Eight. Eight of us dead in the first day. That's a lot, even in these sick twisted games. I just hope it isn't Chloe. Or Kyle. Or James. Or Katherine. Actually I wish none of the deaths happened. I wish the games didn't exist. But they do and there's nothing I can do about it. I sigh and keep walking.

I walk at least five more hours, but I'm still as far away from the mountain as I can be. I decide that I won't have time to go to the mountains so I might as well set camp already, besides it must be like 6 o'clock so it's already late. I search for something to eat before finding a place to sleep. An hour later I find a bush filled with berries that I recognized from training as edible. I take like a thousand of them and look for a good tree I can climb and sleep in. Climbing trees isn't my strong suit, but when you work around trees 24/7 even the least athletic person on the universe learns how to do it. At last I find a huge tree with branches big enough to hold my weight. It takes me like 20 minutes but I finally stand in a huge branch surrounded by a lot of flowers and stuff. It's the best place I could find because all the flowers and plants will protect me from the cold and will stop me from falling.

The anthem of the Capitol begins to play and I look up to the sky to see who died in the Cornucopia today. The first person that appears is the girl from 1 that tried to kill me; I guess someone killed her when she was on the ground. Then there's the girl from 3. So Dante and Silvia are still alive, I was kind of hoping they could die in the Cornucopia so I wouldn't have to deal with them. Then there's both tributes from 5, the girl from 7 and the boys from 8, 10 and 11. The sky seals and everything turns quiet again.

Wait a second. The girl from 7? The girl from 7. The girl from 7! ''Chloe!'' I shout to the sky, as if her face was going to appear and she would tell me that she's alright, that nothing happened. Of course, that's not true. She's dead; I'll never see her again. I lean my back against the tree trunk as tears stream down my face. A second later my head is in my hands, I'm sobbing and I think I'm going to lose it. This is what I meant with getting close to people. Chloe and I barely even spoke with each other, I don't know anything about her except her name and age, but still the pain I was feeling was more horrible than anything I've ever felt before.

It's weird, but the fact that Chloe died is what made this real. For me the Hunger Games started right now. I have a new reason to win. I was trying because of my dad, because of Douglas, because of Johanna, but now I'm going to try for her. For Chloe.

**I'm so sad right now. This is the very first time that I've ever killed a character; I hope I wrote it alright. I hope you liked this chapter and I'm sorry that I couldn't add more about the bloodbath. Please read and review!**


	9. I feel the earth move

**Thanks to nb1998, runnergirl1234, , tvd1002, FireBreadandSnares and Pax Cronin for reviewing. You guys make my day every time you review . I hope you all like this chapter.**

**I feel the earth move:**

_I'm in my old house. Everything looks huge. Is it all bigger? Or am I smaller? I think is the latter. I'm looking for something, or someone. I walk around the house for a long time until I hear giggling coming from a small cupboard in the kitchen. I open it and find a little girl there. She's about 7 and she has bright green eyes and short black hair. She laughs when I find her and walks out of the cupboard._

''_It's my turn to count now'' she says, I guess we are playing hide and seek. The girl reminds me of someone, but I don't know who._

''_Sweetie'' A woman says walking out of my dad's room. My dad walks out with her and he looks really sad ''we need to go now''_

''_But mommy, can I play with Nike a little longer?'' the girl says._

''_No, we have to go. Say goodbye'' the woman says harshly taking her by the arm and leading her to the door of the house. ''Bye, Nike'' she says sadly, the she walks with her mother to the door. The woman closes the door._

And that's when I wake up. It must be 8 o'clock in the morning. First time I wake up this early by myself. I lean my back against the trunk of the tree I'm in and rub my eyes. That dream… It felt so real, I don't think it was a dream, it felt more like… like been inside of one of your own memories. Did that actually happened? And if it did, who was that girl I played hide and seek with? I knew her, but I couldn't place her name. I sigh; I don't think I'm going to remember in a long time. At least I'm not dreaming about the games; I can completely imagine having a nightmare with the boy from 5 that got the spear through his neck. I shake my head. God, that was an ugly sight.

I know that I need to get going, there's still a long way to the mountain, but I'm so comfortable in the branch, with the cool air hitting my face and the beautiful sight of the pine trees, the flowers and the mountains that it takes me a long time to climb off of my tree. I start hiking to the mountains; I think that it'll take me at least four hours to climb half the mountain, which is more or less the place I would like to set camp in.

The hike is a lot harder than it was yesterday; the snow is getting thicker, there are boulders all over the place and some trees had fallen so I had to climb over them because they're so big. I'm halfway there when a canon goes off. I wonder who died; I hope is not anyone I know. I don't want to go through what I went with Chloe. Chloe, it makes me sad just to think about her.

When I'm at the base of the mountain I decide to set up some snares. All I've eaten since I got here are the berries I found yesterday. Talking about that, I still have them. I eat them while I walk and it surprises me how much easier it is to climb a mountain with food in your stomach. An hour later I find a nice place to set camp. It's a very small field, with a small lake nearby and there are a lot of very climbable trees all around the place. It's like three o'clock and I really want to sleep. I climb a tree and once I'm high enough for other tributes not to see me I close my eyes and fall asleep.

I wake up because the branch I'm in is shaking violently. I hold on to the side and wonder what the heck is going on. Then it hits me, earthquake. I jump off of the tree as I realize what will happen next. I hit the ground hard and I think that I might have sprained my ankle, but I don't care for the moment. I run as fast as I can ignoring the pain in my ankle. I'm the stupidest person of the planet, why did I decide to set camp in the only place in the entire arena where an avalanche could happen? This thing is run by corrupt Gamemakers, of course there was going to be an avalanche.

I keep running, but I know that the snow will reach me sooner or later, I need to find some place high or I'll be buried under the snow. Then I see my chance. There's a big rock protruding from the mountain side, if I climb it I could jump to a tree where I could be safe. I speed up and once I'm on top of the rock I jump to a huge pine tree. I hold on to a branch since I wasn't able to land on it with my feet and then I climb it. A canon goes off, maybe someone died in the avalanche. Then I hear a _crack_ and I realize the branch I'm standing in is braking. I stand up and as fast as I can I jump to a branch on top of me, right after I jump and the other branch falls off and I see how it sinks into the huge wave of snow that was about to bury me. A moment later the avalanche stops.

I breathe heavily and drink my entire bottle of water in a second. My ankle hurts, a lot, but I don't know what to do with a sprained ankle so I don't even bother checking how it looks. I'm not thinking about moving from there in a long time. Knowing the Gamemakers there's probably going to be a replica and the avalanche will start again, I really don't feel like running. I'm starting to relax a little when I see something about 50 feet away. I'm not sure but I think it's a person, half buried in snow. I wonder if it's whoever died during the avalanche, but something tells me it's not.

All of my instincts are telling me not to do what I'm about to do, but I can't let whoever is there die just like that. I climb down the tree, which isn't easy with a sprained ankle, and head there. Even though he's only 50 feet away it takes me a long time to arrive, because my feet keep sinking in the snow. Once I'm there I realize that it is Kyle, the boy from 12. I pull him out of the snow and check his heart beat. I smile relieved, his heart is still beating, but slowly. He's shivering and he looks a little blue. I take off my jacket and wrapped him with it; he is so tiny that my jacket fits him like a robe even though I'm only 2 years older than him. I'm starting to think that the jacket is magic, because five seconds after I take it off I feel like I'm about to die from hypothermia.

Then it happens. A replica. ''Damn it!'' I shout loudly. I pick up Kyle as if he were a sack of potatoes and start running again. Kyle is surprisingly light, but his extra weight is definitely making this a lot harder than it already was. I'm sweating and breathing heavily and I'm also limping a little because of my hurt ankle. I hear a rumbling sound right behind me, I look back only for a second, but I shouldn't have, because what I see freaks me out. The avalanche is obviously controlled by Gamemakers because the wave of snow behind me is completely unnatural, it's not only snow and rocks as it should be, there are other things that I can't describe. I know for sure one thing, if me or Kyle end up trapped under it, we won't make it out alive.

I keep running as fast as my hurt ankle lets me, I think I almost ran the entire mountain downhill, if I can make it to the forest I think that I won't have to worry about the avalanche anymore. Then I see it, pretty close to where I am there's a cliff. It isn't very wide, but it is at least 150 feet deep. I know for sure that it wasn't there when I climbed the mountain; it must've opened because of the earthquakes. I need to jump it, if I don't the avalanche will kill me and Kyle, but there's always the possibility that I may not be able to jump to the other side. I make my mind.

I'm five feet away from the cliff and I throw Kyle to the other side. He reaches there safely, maybe he has a small injury, but I know that he's safe for the moment. Now it's my turn, I have to jump. I'm a second away from the cliff when I jump as hard as my legs let me. Just like it happened in training, as soon as my feet leave the ground I know that I'm not going to make it. There's something on my favor, though. This gap was bigger than the one in training, you may think that's bad, but it is actually a good thing because I don't hit my ribs like I did before. Instead I'm able to hold on with both of my hands.

The rumbling stops and I know that the avalanche is over and I doubt that it'll start again. Now the problem in hand, I'm dangling from the side of a very deep cliff and chances are that I'll pass out from fatigue before I'm able to climb to the other side. My hands hurt a lot and I feel something wet in my gloves, I think that my wound started bleeding again. It takes me a lot of effort, but I raise my upper half body to the ground and I lay there with my eyes closed and breathing heavily. My legs are still dangling from the side of the cliff, when Kyle wakes up he could easily throw me to the side and kill me. My last thought before I pass out is ''I hope he won't do that''.

I wake up because of an annoying beeping sound. I open my eyes and I see that it is morning time. My back is against a tree and I'm like 10 feet away from the horrible cliff I almost died in yesterday, I also have my jacket back on. I finally find what was making the beeping sound and I realize it is a package tied to a silver parachute beside me. My first present from a sponsor, how nice. I open it and find an ankle support and a bandage. There's also a note saying ''Good work so far, try not to die. –Blight''. I smile and take off my boot. My ankle doesn't look so bad, thank God. I put the ankle support on and I stand up applying weight to my ankle. Perfect, it almost doesn't bother me anymore. I look at my hands and I'm disappointed to see that my gloves broke because of holding on to the side of the cliff and sadly my wound did start bleeding again. I throw the gloves away, and cover my wound with the bandage. I stand up and look for Kyle; he has to be here somewhere. Finally I see a small boot under a bush. I walk over there and without him realizing it I take him by the jacket and pull him up.

He's shaking and he looks terrified, but he raises a huge knife that I hadn't noticed he had before ''I'm not afraid of you!'' he says pointing the knife at me ''I-I can k-kill you! You better go!''

You know, even though this kid was threatening to kill me, I couldn't help but think about how brave this kid was. I'm at least two heads taller than him and way stronger too, but he still was willing to fight against me. I decide right then that I want him as an ally. All I said in my interview about getting close to people, well it was true, but I can't be alone anymore and I have the feeling Kyle thinks like me about that.

''Don't worry kid'' I say, I don't know why I call him ''kid'', it just fits ''I'm not going to fight against you, not after I saved your life''

He relaxes a little bit, but his knife is still high ''Why did you save me?''

''Because I want you as an ally'' I say without hesitation.

His expression changes from scared to confused and surprised in a second and he lowers her knife completely ''Why would you want me as an ally?''

''Because'' I say smiling for the first time in days ''You-are-a-fighter!'' After each word I say I poke him in the stomach like I do with Johanna's younger brother Alex. He laughs and tries to move my hand away. Oh, damn. I'm already getting close to Kyle. ''So what do you say? Want to be my ally?'' I say and I raise my hand for him to shake.

He smiles and takes my hand ''I guess we are allies''

**I hope you all liked this chapter! Good news, there's a slight chance that I might be able to update again tomorrow. It's not for sure, but I'll try to write the next chapter as fast as I can.**


	10. Thoughts of home

**Thanks to FireBreadandSnares, tvd1002, nb1998 and runnergirl234 for reviewing. This chapter is happier, but a little slow going compared to the last one, still I hope you all like it .**

**Thoughts of home:**

It's been hours since me and Kyle became allies, nothing interesting has happened since then, except for the fact that we were able to capture a rabbit.

''Who died yesterday?'' I ask Kyle after we are done eating ''You know, when I was unconscious''

''The boy from 3 and Marissa'' he says.

''Who's Marissa?'' I ask

''My district partner'' he says and his eyes are a little watery, but I don't mention that.

''Oh, sorry'' I say and when the silence becomes too uncomfortable I add ''Any idea how they died?''

''Marissa died during the avalanche and the boy from 3 was killed by me and Marissa'' he says looking a little guilty and sad ''We just wanted to steal his weapons, but he noticed we were there and he attacked us. Marissa killed him with my knife. It wasn't so bad, I was able to get all this knives'' after saying that he opens his bag and takes out a big collection of small, really sharp knives.

''Impressive. Know how to use these?'' I ask even though I already know the answer.

He stands up and picks one of the knives up. He prepares himself, aims and throws the knife. It hits a blackberry that is hanging from a branch about 30 feet away.

''Great!'' I say smiling ''Where did you learn to throw a knife like that?''

''Work'' he says and sits down beside me again.

''Work? Isn't your district in charge of coal? I thought you were supposed to work in the mines'' I say

''Oh, no. You start working in the mines when you're eighteen.'' He explains ''And most miners are from the Seam, I'm not. My family owns the butcher's shop. I was always cutting meat back home, that's how I learn how to handle a knife''

''That's cool. Tell me about your family'' I ask

''Well, my parents are a little boring'' he says and then he looks up ''Sorry, you know I love you!'' he shouts to the sky and I laugh ''Anyway, I also have an older brother, his name is Kjell. He's fourteen, like you, but he's shorter. He's amazing, he always plays with me and he helps me out whenever I have a problem or whenever I'm feeling sad and he always tells me stories when I can't sleep. I think he's the one I miss the most''

''I think you have an awesome family'' I say and Kyle smiles ''You mention some place called the Seam, what's that?''

''That's where almost all the miners live'' he says ''It's a little sad, but most of them have a really tough life''

''Really? How come?''

''I have it easy, because my parents are the butchers I always have something to eat'' he says ''But I have this friend, his name is Gale Hawthorne, he lives in the Seam and his dad is a miner. He's doing ok, but sometimes they have to spend days without eating''

''That's terrible!'' I say

''What about you, how's your family like?'' he asks me.

''My family is… weird'' I laugh ''I don't have any siblings, in fact I live only with my dad. My mom died when I was young…''

''That's her ring, right?'' he asks pointing to my chest. I was playing with the ring again.

''Yes, it is'' I say looking at it and smiling like an idiot ''Anyway, as I was saying I also have this great friend called Douglas. Well, he's actually my boss, I'm a woodcutter, but he's an amazing guy. He's really funny and he always helps me with the trees and everything. Then there's of course Johanna…''

''The girl Caesar thinks you're in love with?'' he asks raising an eyebrow.

''You paid attention to my interview, didn't you?'' I ask and he laughs ''Yes, she is the girl Caesar thinks I'm in love with''

''So, are you going to tell me about her?'' he says smiling.

''You sound like Caesar'' I say annoyed and he laughs again ''Fine, I'll tell you about her. When I met her she was going through a tough time. I had some experience in what she was going through and I helped her out. Afterwards _I _went through a tough time and she helped me out of it. After a while we became inseparable, it's been like that for 5 years now. She's definitely who I miss the most'' I'm getting really homesick talking about home and Johanna, but I know that I have the goofiest smile ever across my face.

''You didn't tell me how she's like'' Kyle says.

''Are you planning on kidnapping her or something?'' I say half joking, half seriously concerned ''She's amazing. She's hilarious, she always makes sarcastic comments, which by the way I miss a lot, she's smart, she's mature, more than me actually even though she's a year younger, and, I shouldn't say it because if I get out of here neither she or Caesar will ever let this go, but she's the prettiest girl you'll find in the entire district'' After saying that I blush, because I realize every single person on Panem heard that.

''I wonder why Caesar thinks you love her…'' Kyle says and I laugh.

''Seriously, she is just my friend'' I say. Kyle doesn't argues any further which I'm grateful for ''You should sleep, it's already late. I'll take the first watch''

''Fine'' he says and he lays down using his bag as a pillow ''Good night''

''Good night'' I say. Kyle must've been very tired, because he falls asleep seconds after.

I think about my home for a long time. Then about my conversation with Kyle, I really shouldn't have said the thing about Johanna been the prettiest girl in the district. Johanna will _so_ not stop annoying me with that. I smile, I miss Johanna a lot. That conversation I had with Kyle makes me think about all amazing things I've ever been through with Johanna, most of all that one time we tried to escape the district and live in the woods. It sounded like such a good idea at the moment.

It was 3 years ago, I was 11 and Johanna was 10. It was the day of the reaping. Neither I nor Johanna had to worry about it then. A girl I didn't know was chosen, moments later the girl's dad got into a huge fight with the peacekeepers, I think he was trying to take his daughter and escape. The man was captured and he was publically whipped, everybody who was in the square had to see it, sadly Johanna and I were there. I have always hated blood, I kind of try to ignore that here in the games, but back in the district it really didn't matter, I got sick of the sight and I ran away.

There is an abandoned house at the far end of the district, I sometimes when there when I was trying to escape from all the injustices from the Capitol. The house is very, very small, it's only one room and there's nothing there except for cockroaches. I sat on the floor and try to take the image of the bloody man out of my mind, with no luck. After a few minutes Johanna walked in.

''Hey, are you okay? You looked really freaked out'' she said sitting in the floor beside me.

''Yeah, I'm fine I just hate blood'' I said ''I can't believe they whipped that man just because he was trying to save his daughter's life''

''It was pretty ugly'' she said.

''Don't you wish, sometimes, that we could, like, run away?'' I asked ''Get out of here? Live someplace else? Forget about the Capitol?''

''Why don't we do it?'' She asked me all of a sudden.

''What?'' I asked surprised, still not really sure what she meant.

''Let's run away! We could live in the woods!'' she said excitedly ''We could take some weapons from our parents and get out of all of this''

''Johanna, are you sure?'' I asked ''It could be dangerous and what would we do afterwards?''

''I don't know, live?'' she said ''C'mon Nike! You said you wanted to run away, why not?''

''You're right'' I said getting excited ''We could do it!''

After I agreed we started to form a plan, we were going to steal a weapon from our parents in the middle of the night and then sneak out and we were going to meet in the entrance of the woods. That night I couldn't sleep, when it was 11 o'clock I stood up and stole my dad's hunting knife. I practically ran to the meeting point. Johanna was already there.

''Ready?'' she asked me.

''Yep'' I said ''How are we going to evade the peacekeepers?''

''I'm still not sure, but I think that they all have some kind of schedule'' she said ''I saw that they all left for a second about 5 minutes ago, I think they went to eat or something''

''So, we'll just wait until they all move to do whatever they do?'' I asked and she nodded. We waited quietly afterwards. Johanna was right, after half an hour they all got together and stayed there for a few minutes. Johanna and I used that moment to get into the woods. We were both very surprised that it had been so easy.

Believe it or not we were able to survive during 2 entire days, but something happened in day 3. There was a storm, a pretty bad one by the way, and the small camp we set up was almost destroyed. Johanna and I found a cave not far away from our camp and we settle there. I took us 7 seconds to realize how much we had screwed up; the cave was a wolf's lair. We ran out of there the wolf following us. We started to climb a tree, Johanna is faster than me, she climbed it in seconds, it took me way longer most of all because of the weather. We settled in a huge branch 20 meters high. I'm not sure how it happened, but we both feel asleep up there.

''Johanna, wake up'' I told her in the morning. She was very close to me and her head was in my chest and I found that a little uncomfortable ''Wake up, we need to climb down''

''Five more minutes'' she said and rolled to the side. She moved a little too far, she fell down the tree.

''Johanna!'' I shouted. I climbed down faster than I've ever climbed in my entire life and I leaned beside her ''Johanna, please don't be dead, please don't be dead'' I said as I shook her trying to wake her up, she didn't. I was more scared than I've ever been in my entire life and tears were coming out of my eyes, the thought of Johanna dying was the most horrible thing that could happen to me. I checked her pulse, thank god, she was still alive. I picked her up bridal style, she was lighter than I thought she would be, but we were far away from the district so it wasn't an easy walk back there.

I arrived, though, an hour later, Johanna still unconscious in my arms. The peacekeepers tried to arrest us, but I was able to convince them that Johanna and I only got lost while helping out cutting trees and that Johanna had an accident. They took Johanna to the healer and they brought me back with my dad. My dad punished me for 3 months; Johanna left the 'hospital' a few days later without any kind of damage.

I smile at the memory, it was a total disaster, but it brought me and Johanna even closer together and now that I'm here in the games, that is the kind of memory that I would like to see flashing before my eyes when I die, besides whenever Johanna mocks me I can _always _remind her that I saved her life once.

**Thanks to Pax Cronin for giving me the idea for basically the entire chapter. I hope you all liked it even though it was a little slow going, but I promise the next one will be filled with excitement. Please review and tell me what you think .**


	11. A different kind of goodbye

**Thanks to FireBreadandSnares, nb1998, Pax Cronin and tvd1002 for reviewing. I'm very, very excited for this chapter, because I've been planning it in my head for a very long time, in this chapter very important things will take place, so I hope that I can live up to my own expectative. That was deep…**

**A different kind of goodbye:**

It's been 2 days since me and Kyle became allies. That means that it's been 3 days since the last death. That worries me a little, the Capitol is probably getting bored, they want to see blood, if they don't get it the Gamemakers will do something to get us together or kill us in horrible circumstances.

''I'm so hungry!'' Kyle says for the third time in the last five minutes. I understand why he's saying that, ever since we captured that rabbit 2 days ago we've been eating nothing but berries.

''I'm hungry too, buddy'' I say ''But we can't do anything, we captured that rabbit for pure luck, neither of us know how to hunt''

''The rabbit…'' Kyle says with a dreamy expression ''It tasted _soooo_ good''

''You have serious issues to work on'' I say shaking my head. Then I remember something ''The snares!'' I say out of nowhere,

''And you say _I_ have issues'' he says

''No Kyle, before I climbed the mountain I set some snares so I could eat some meat later'' I say already on my feet ''I can look for them, I didn't set them on the mountain, the avalanche didn't touch them!''

''Are you serious?'' he asks and I nod ''And you're telling me now?''

I laugh ''I'll go look for them'' I say.

''Wait, I'll go with you'' Kyle says standing up.

''No'' I say ''It's better if you stay here and guard our stuff, I'll be back soon''

''Are you sure?'' he asks looking a little worried.

''Yeah, don't worry, nothing will happen'' I say smiling at him ''Here take this'' I say giving him my knife ''Just in case''

''But, what will you defend yourself with?'' he asks me taking the knife.

''I don't know, I'll figure it out'' I say shrugging ''Your safety is more important'' That last piece wasn't supposed to come out, it was just a thought.

Kyle looks surprised by that and he hugs me ''Hurry, will you?'' he says ''I'm really hungry''

I laugh ''Of course you are''

I head to the place where I set the snares. It's not very far away, only a ten minute walk from our small camp site. When I arrive I'm not disappointed, there's a big, fat rabbit trapped in one of the snares. I take it and also the rope so I could set more snares later. Kyle was going to be really happy. I smile, but my smile disappears when I hear something to my right. I turn around, but there's nothing there, maybe it was just an animal. I make my way back to our camp. I hear something again, this time it sounded like a voice. I head there and I see someone walking through the trees. ''Hey!'' I shout and I run there. I hear something else to my right and I turn around.

Dante. He smiles at me; I don't even have time to blink when he hits me on the side of my head with a log. I hit a tree and fall down. I try to stand up, but Dante kicks me in the stomach and I fall down again. I cough blood and the side of my face hurts and it feels sticky. ''Kyle!'' I shout ''Run! Run!'' I hope he can hear me. ''You're not helping him, punk'' Dante says and then makes me lay on my back and then he sits on top of me, his legs on either side of my body. He holds me still with his left hand and punches me in the face hard. The pain is horrible and my mouth tastes like blood, still I know that he's not hitting me as hard as he could, he wants to humiliate me like I humiliate him, but most of all he wants me to suffer. He punches me again.

''Does it hurt, punk?'' he says and punches me again ''Clive and I saw you and your pathetic friend the other day'' he says and adds another punch ''We could've killed you right then, but Clive had an idea. He was going to let _me_ do anything I want with you, while they killed your ally'' he punches me again when finishes that sentence ''Clive idea was amazing, burning down the place. You and your stupid ally will die in the fire, but I'm going to make sure you suffer a little before that happens'' When he says that he smiles evilly. ''What should I do with you?'' he takes something that is strapped to his back. A hammer. Shit.

He stretches my left arm and sets it on the ground. ''This will hurt. A lot''. He raises his hammer and I close my eyes tightly. When the hammer hits my hand I scream, louder than I've ever screamed before. The pain I'm feeling is beyond description. I feel how my hand is destroyed, how my skin opens and my bones break. My hand is irreparable, useless.

''I want you to beg'' Dante says ''Beg for your pathetic, little life''

I refuse to do what he says; if I'm going to die I'm going to die with some honor. I spit blood on his face ''I prefer to die'' I say glaring at him. He punches me in the face again. ''You're dead, punk''. He raises the hammer to strike again, but this time he aims for my head and I know that if that hammer hits me I'm not going to live. Suddenly, time stops. I see everything much clearer now and my brain has time to process everything and from a plan to get out of this. I see it then, Dante raised his hammer a little too far, the weight of the hammer can make him fall! Time starts again and I use all the strength I have to push him, only with my right hand of course. It works; he falls backwards and drops the hammer.

As fast as I can I switch positions so now I'm on top of him. You can see the shock and fear registered on his face, but I don't give him time to recover or do something for his situation, because I punch him square on the nose. His nose breaks, his face is covered in blood and he groans, but I don't stop, I punch him again, and again, and again. I raise my fist to punch him again, but I stop myself. Dante is unconscious, his face is covered in blood and he looks so defenseless. I should kill him now, but I can't. I can't kill someone in cold blood just like this. I stand up. I search Dante to see if he has something that could help me, but he didn't have any supplies with him, except for a silver, three feet long sword, not unlike the one I used in training. I take the hammer and I break it and throw it to a bush, hoping that no one will find it and repair it. A cannon brings me out of my trance and then I smell it, smoke.

Damn it! Kyle, I need to find him. What if that cannon was his? No, it can't be, he couldn't have just died. I head to our campsite, just a few seconds later I'm coughing and feeling really hot. All around me there are flames burning bright and hot. I'm well passed the camp site, but I still haven't seen Kyle anywhere. Did he escape? Or did the flames turn his body into ashes? I can't think like that. I also can't breathe. I cover my mouth and nose with the turtle neck hoping that it could block the smoke a little. It does, but it is still hard to breathe. Suddenly I kick something and I fall to the ground. I look back and I see a body, a human body. I start to freak out, but it takes me a second to realize that it is a female body, probably from one of the careers. That means that Kyle is safe. I need to get out of here.

I stand up and run to a lake that was about 50 feet away from our campsite. I'm about to get out of the burning zone when I feel a burning sensation on my calf. I look down to find that half my calf is on fire and the fire is spreading. My adrenaline shots right up and I run faster than I've ever ran in my life. I see the lake and I sink my leg into it as fast as I can, glad that the fire melted the ice. I feel relieved immediately, but my relief leaves when I see something on the other side of the lake. A body, small like a child's body. I swim there as fast as I can, which isn't much, much less with a hurt leg and hand.

When I arrive my heart drops. It is Kyle. But he's half burned, his clothes are almost destroyed and his skin is black and red, but his face is the worst, his hair is burned and half of his face is black. You can see his entire eyeball and part of the bones on his cheek. He's not going to make it and it is my fault. Tears stream down my face as I make my way to his side. I kneel beside him and take his hand as my tears fall to the ground. He opens his eyes.

''Nike?'' he says, his voice hoarse and weak ''Are you okay? You're bleeding''

That feels like a dagger through my heart. How can he ask me that when he's on that state? ''I'm fine, buddy'' I say trying not to sob ''How are you feeling?''

''I don't feel anything'' he says ''At first it burned and it was really hot, but afterwards I didn't feel anything else''

''Kyle, I'm so sorry'' I say and I can't help it, I sob without any kind of control.

''I don't blame you'' he says ''Just, will you stay here?''

''Of course, buddy'' I say ''I'm not going anywhere''

His grip on my hand lightens lightly and he has a small smile on his face ''Nike'' he says and I look at him in the eye ''I'm still hungry'' After saying that he closes his eyes and takes one last breath before letting go of my hand. His cannon goes off soon after. He's dead, gone, just like that. I stay there though, for a very long time, crying. I don't have the will to let him go, not without doing something to honor him, to show how much of a hero he was. I remember something, something that happened years ago.

_My dad took a pine needle and he took it in his hand. I didn't know what he was going to do, but it still surprised me that he crushed the needle in his hand. He took the remains and he pressed them in my mother's chest, right before they closed the casket and lower the body to the ground._

''_Why did you do that, daddy?'' I asked him._

''_because I loved your mother'' he says ''Here in district 7, when someone you love dies you crush a pine needle, it's our way of saying that even something as strong and beautiful as a pine tree sometimes has to leave''_

I've never thought about it, but it is the best way to honor Kyle right now. I take a pine needle and I do the same thing I saw my dad doing. ''Goodbye, Kyle'' I whisper as I wipe the tears from my checks. I stand up and look up ''To Kyle's family, especially Kjell,'' I shout knowing that the cameras are on me ''I swear I'm going to find the responsible of this make him pay''. After I say that I take my knife from Kyle's body and head the woods. I have a career to kill.

**I cried a lot with this chapter, still I hope you all liked it! I rewrote it like 3 times because I didn't like how it turned out, so this is definitely the chapter I have worked on the most. Please read and review!**


	12. Revenge isn't sweet

**Thanks to FireBreadandSnares, nb1998 and JonB-asl-c-w for reviewing. There's a very, very important author's note at the end of this chapter and it is very important that you read it. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter.**

**Revenge isn't sweet:**

''_but Clive had an idea'', ''Clive's idea was amazing''_. Those things that Dante told me right before destroying my hand have been in my head ever since I promised that I would make the responsible for Kyle's death pay. Clive. Clive killed Kyle and I am going to kill him, even if that's the last thing I do. Still, there is a big problem that I need to take care of before I hunt Clive down, my wounds. I've been limping the entire way and my calf burns a lot, I'm lucky though with the cold weather the burn hurts a thousand times less than it would hurt in summer or something. Then there's my hand, I'm too afraid to look at it, because I know the sight will be horrible, but I've been trying to move it, or at least feel it, I can't, neither of those. From the wrist down, it's dead. I'm almost sure that as long as I have those wounds there Clive could squash me like a bug, but I need to try, I promised Kyle's family.

A beeping gets me out of my trance. Right beside me there's a silver parachute. My _second_ gift from a sponsor. I go there and take it. I open it and inside I find a small vial, a bandage and another note ''Sorry about the kid. Keep fighting- Blight''. I'm sorry about the kid too… I sit down and take the vial, I know for sure that it is a burn medicine, there's nothing that could fix my hand except for a surgeon, but a surgeon would cost me too many sponsors. I pull my pants up and see my calf, the sight is very ugly. You can see my tender flesh and my skin is black all around it. I open the vial (which takes a very long time when you only have one hand) and I put it on my burn. I feel an instant relief, this cream sure is magic. Then I take the bandages, those are for my hand. I raise my left hand still afraid to look. The sight even under my old bandages is ugly, the bandage is falling apart and it is wet and bright red. I slowly peel the bandage off, now I start to feel my hand, but now in a pleasant way, more in like a ''Can someone please cut my hand off?'' kind of way. I need to move my head to the side and breathe deeply not to throw up. My fingers are relatively okay, but they're all pointing at weird angles and my palm… God, my palm. The skin is destroyed, I might as well take it off, my flesh is squashed and my bones must be very broken, because my flesh and what's left of my skin is completely uniform and it doesn't looks at all like a normal hand. I take my knife and I cut the skin that was about to fall off (The most horrible thing I've ever done in my life) then I clean my hand using the water from my bottle and then I cover it with the bandage.

I feel better now, way better actually. I stand up and I pull out the sword I took from Dante and I hit a tree with it a few times, perfect. I feel a smile growing on my face. I think this is the first time that I actually think I might win, I have the weapons, obviously I have sponsors and after what happened with Kyle, I have the inspiration too. I sheathe the sword. And I keep going. I have no idea where the careers are, but they don't have much of a head start from me, I just need to find one of them, hopefully Clive. I walk for a long time until I finally see a lead. Footprints, I follow them, almost running. Finally I see him, it isn't Clive. It's the boy from 4, the one that I could never remember his name. He looked alright, he looked tired and his clothes were a little torn, but besides that he looked fine. I stare at him for a while, trying to find a weakness or the right time to attack. After giving it a lot of thought I realized that it doesn't matter, he's prepared and he has a very deadly looking spear in his hand.

I take a deep breath and I tackle him to the ground. He's surprised and I punch him in the face before he even knows what's going on. He flips us though and now he punches me. We both struggle trying to regain control neither of us succeeding. Finally he kicks me in the stomach and he stands up. He is looking for the spear, I take that moment to stand up and unsheathe my sword. He already has the spear and he tries to stick it in my chest, but I block and I slash hoping to hit his neck. He takes my arm and hits me with his elbow on the nose. It doesn't break, thank god, but it still hurts. He hits me with the stick of his spear in the stomach and I move backwards, holding my stomach with my hands.

He is about to thrust the spear in my face, but I roll over and stand up as fast as I can. I slash his leg and cut a big gash; he groans and falls to his knees. I hit him with the hilt of my sword in the back of his head and he falls face down to the ground. I turn him around and I take him by the collar of his shirt and hold him against a tree trunk, putting my left arm on his neck to keep him up.

''Where is Clive?'' I ask, trying to make my voice sound as strong as I can.

''I-I don't know'' he says trying to make me let go of neck with no success ''The alliance ended after Clive pushed Silvia to the fire''

''Where. Is. He?'' I ask again and I hear how dangerous and unrecognizible my voice sounds.

''I-I d-don't…''

''WHERE IS HE?'' I shout very loudly and the boy freaks out.

''He's in the Cornucopia!'' he says and his eyes are watery ''H-he said that he was going to set camp by the big lake in the cornucopia''

''What! That's a day's walk!'' I say

''T-that's what he said'' he says and tears are now rolling down his cheeks ''Please, please don't kill me!''

I'm not going to kill him, he didn't kill Kyle ''You have five seconds to run'' I say letting him go and setting him in the ground.

''Thank you!'' he says, he takes his spear and runs off to the opposite direction. He won't come back, at least not yet. I sigh; I'm going to set camp, tomorrow I'll take off to the Cornucopia. If the boy wasn't lying then the career alliance ended, which is weird considering we are only in the top 12, also the other body I tripped into was Silvia's. Clive is an idiot, he killed Kyle, he tried to kill me and he killed one of his team mates, I think he might be even worse than Dante.

I don't want to climb a tree; I'm too tired for that. I walk for a while and I find a lake, nearby the lake there's a very, very small cave made out of a few very big rocks. The lake is filled with fishes, it takes me a long time, but I catch one. I turn on a fire, not caring about the careers finding me. I cook the fish and eat it, it tasted pretty good actually. I might not be a bad cook after all. I also wash my clothes, which were covered in dirt, snow and blood and put them to dry in front of the fire. The anthem plays and I see the faces in the sky. First there's Silvia and then there's Kyle. Then the sky seals and everything turns quiet again. I fall asleep by the fire just a few minutes after.

When I wake up I feel more rested than I felt in days. I put on my clothes and it's nice to be wearing something clean for a change. My wound in my calf is much better, it is now just an ugly scar and the bandage in my hand is a little red, but way better than yesterday. I prepare myself for the trip; it'll be at least a 7 hour walk. I eat some nuts and berries before leaving and I turn off the fire. The walk isn't so bad, the cold weather makes it easier than I thought, and thinking back on it, the cold has really made these games easier instead of harder for me. Nothing worth telling happens while I get there, except that a cannon went off, the action happens when I arrive. 4 didn't lie, Clive is here and he has a camp by the big lake that was on the opposite site of the woods I went to at the beginning of the games. I'm not going to make any plan; I'm just going there and fight him.

I can see him; he's by the lake, looking to the other side. I could kill him right now and he wouldn't know, but I don't want to. I want him to look at me in the eye as I kill him. ''Clive!'' I shout and he turns around, when he sees me he smiles creepily.

''Seven!'' he says acting as if I have been his friend his entire life ''How did you survive? Where you too much for Dante, _again_?''

''I'm not here to talk about Dante'' I say unsheathing my sword ''You killed Kyle and now I'm going to kill you''

He laughs, a cold, heartless laugh ''You think you can kill me?'' he says picking a double war axe from the ground ''I'd like to see that''

I raise my sword and I run to where he is, then I jump and try to strike his head. He blocks, and tries to cut my head off, but I duck and try to cut his legs. He jumps backwards and tries to hit me in the back with the axe, but this time I block. The fight continues and before we know it we are deep into the woods. He hits me with the hilt of the axe in my neck and I stumble backwards. He tries to punch me in the face but I block with my left hand. I think the punch would've hurt less. I feel how my hand starts to bleed again and a sharp pain goes in my entire arm and I drop the sword.

''Well look at that!'' Clive says smiling ''Dante is not so useless after all!''

Then he crashes against me and keeps me against a tree trunk. He smiles again and raises his arm to hit me with the axe. I kick him with my knee in the stomach and he doubles in pain, dropping the axe. I take him by the shoulders and switch us so he's now the one against the trunk. I punch him in the nose twice, but then I feel a sharp pain to the right of my navel. I look down and I see a green dagger going through me. I freak out but Clive punches me and sets himself free. My navel hurts, a lot. But, this isn't normal, this pain, it burns and it doesn't stop, there's something on that Dagger. I fall to the ground and Clive sits on top of me, just like Dante did.

''You almost got me there'' he says wiping the blood of his lips ''Good thing for me, I don't play fair'' he pulls out the green dagger again ''You're wondering what's in the dagger, aren't you? The girl from 8 was wondering it right before I killed her'' he says smiling as if it were a nice memory ''I'm going to tell you what it is; we'll call that your last wish. I found a snake on the way to my camp, I killed it. The snake turned out to be a mutt, its venom makes the wounds incurable'' My eyes open wide in shock, my wound won't ever heal? ''Yep, you understood quickly, I might even leave you here and let you bleed to the death, but I like more the idea of giving the Capitol a show''

He raises the dagger and he presses it lightly on my cheek, I feel how the dagger cuts me and how the blood comes out of the cut. He moves the knife slowly, never separating it from my face, and it goes from one of my cheeks to the other, going right across my nose. I'm biting my lip not to scream and I wonder why I had to be such an idiot by not killing him when I had the chance. ''I'm going to kill you, just like I killed that stupid district partner of yours…'' he whispers in my ear. He killed Chloe? That's it! I push him with both of my hands off of me and he falls to the side. I stand up and kick him on the back twice. Then I pick up my sword and turn back to face him, he's just standing up and he looks scared for the first time since the fight started.

''I-I'm sorry'' he says raising his hands ''I didn't kill her, I was kidding'' he keeps walking backwards until his back is against a tree ''D-don't kill me''

''Goodbye, Clive'' I say and I thrust my sword into his chest, right where his heart is.

He looks at me, his eyes filled with fear and shock. I pull out my sword and his cannon goes off. He falls to the ground and I just stare at his dead body. I did this to him. I killed him. He had a family, friends and I killed him. No, no, no. How could this happen? Why did I do this? I let these games change me. I turned into the person I'll never though I'll be. I'm a monster. I run away from there, from the proof of that horrible truth.

**This is one of the longest chapters yet, I'm finishing it at 2:50 in the morning, so if there are more mistakes than usual is probably because of that. Still I hope you all liked it and please read and review!**

**Really Important Author's Note:**

**I have bad news, very bad news. Tomorrow I'm going to a summer camp in Canada, with no computers or internet. I'm going to be there for 3 and a half weeks and during all that time I'm not going to be able to update. I promise that the Saturday after I come back I'm going to post a new chapter, that's Saturday 18****th**** of August, but there will sadly be an almost 4 week hiatus. I'm really sorry, I hope I won't lose readers just because I'm going on vacation.**


	13. The feast

**I'm finally back! I'm sorry for all the time I was gone. Before saying anything else I want to thank Flossah, tvd1002, nb1998, Pax Cronin, FireBreadandSnares and Jennifer Bailey Sneed for reviewing. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to answer to all the reviews like I usually do, but I read every single one of them and they made my day, so thanks again. Without anything else to add I hope you all like this chapter.**

**The Feast:**

I run as fast as I can. I'm crying the entire time, but not because of the pain in my hand or where Clive's dagger cut me, I'm crying because of the guilt, the guilt I'm feeling is unbearable and I don't know what to do with it. It doesn't take long before I reach Clive's camp by the lake. I head to the lake and I clean my face with my good hand, then I see my reflection on the water. I look horrible. My hair already looks like its usual mess, which I'm fine with, my eyes are red and from my nose down I'm covered in blood because of Clive's cut on my face. I sit down on the ground and take my head in my hands, trying to control myself and forget about what I did. It takes me a long time, but finally I accept that I can't change what happened, I need to keep going and keep fighting until I'm able to go back home, but there's one thing for sure. I'm never killing again.

I decide to check my wounds first. Due to the size of the blood stain on my shirt I think the wound on my navel is really bad. I wonder is it true what Clive told me? Is it true that this wound or the one on my face will never heal? I don't think he was lying and that's my biggest worry. I take both of my jackets off and then my shirt, that's when I notice that it isn't cold anymore and that there's almost no snow left on the ground or the trees. Anyway, my wound is so bad that just by looking at it I get a little dizzy. I'm covered in blood and you can tell I'm still bleeding a lot, and the wound itself is so deep that I think it might've hurt an organ. I rip my shirt and I tie it tightly around my waist, hoping that that could stop the bleeding a little. Then there's my hand, the bandage is bright red again and I have no other choice but to take the bandage off and wrap my hoodie tightly around my hand. Then I put my leather jacket back on.

I stand up and search for supplies in Clive's camp. He had nothing of use except for a lot of really deadly looking weapons and some food. I also found a lot of handkerchiefs, I wonder why Clive had those, those are going to be really useful to clean the blood off of my face whenever my cut bleeds, which is always. Then I decide where to go next. I'm not staying in Clive's camp, the career, so both from 4 and Dante, know where it is and they might come here looking for Clive or trying to steal his things, but I feel way too weak to walk a long way. I settle for surrounding the lake, there are some woods to the other side which will be good for hiding and I could see everything that happens in the Cornucopia.

I start to surround the lake, but it is harder than I thought. I'm extremely tired, but I don't know why, I feel a horrible burning sensation in my navel and my face and neither of them stops bleeding the whole time I walk. I finally arrive to the other side and I use all the energy I have left to sit down with my back against a tree trunk. I have some food that I stole from Clive, but I don't want to eat it. I feel weak and I don't think I have the strength to survive much longer. I spend hours just sitting there, trying to resist the pain and o not die. My wounds don't stop bleeding at any moment and I know that I'm losing too much blood.

Night comes and I'm still miserable. The Capitol's anthem plays and I look up at the sky to see the faces of those who died. There's first Clive's face, which sends a pang of guilt through me, and then there's the face from the girl from 8, the one Clive told me he had killed. The sky seals again and I expect complete silence, but instead I hear Claudius Templesmith voice booming over the arena.

''Hello, tributes!'' he says loud and clear ''It's been some really exciting 8 days…'' 8 days? That has to be wrong, it has been way longer, or has it? I don't even remember ''But now all of you need something desperately…'' something to stop the bleeding would be nice ''so tomorrow, at dawn, there will be a feast, with everything you need. You better have a good night, tomorrow will be an important day''

After that everything turns quiet again. The only thing I need is a medicine for my wounds, which is something I doubt any sponsor could pay this far during the games. I have no choice but to go back to the cornucopia and be a part of the feast, even though in the state I'm in I'll probably die. I make my way back, but this time it takes me three times as long to get to the other side of the lake. I lay on the grass a few feet away from where the field of the cornucopia is, it isn't the safest place, but is the best thing I could find. I'm a little afraid to fall asleep, because in my state there's always a chance of not waking up, but after a few minutes exhaustion takes over and I fall asleep.

Luckily for me I do wake up. It's really early, like four or five in the morning. I stand up and I feel slightly better than I did yesterday. I walk around the field looking for the ideal spot to run to the cornucopia. I find one right in front of it where I can see everything that happens and then I just wait.

The sun finally starts coming out and I see a slight chance right in front of the cornucopia. A big base comes out of the ground and it rises until it is as high as a dining table. On the base there are a bunch of bags with a bug number on them. Mine is a small one with the number 7 clearly written on it. I take off immediately running as fast as I can ignoring the bleeding on my face and the pain on my navel. I'm one of the first ones there, though. I take the bag with the 7 on it and strap it to my back. I run away again and I see other tributes making their ways to the bags, I run pass them and they don't seem to care about me. I'm at the end of the field really quickly and I can't help but think that getting the bag was way too easy.

I turn around to see what's going on and there's a lot of fighting. Dante is there and he runs for his bag, which is the biggest one, but the boy from 9 is there first and tries to take it. Dante and the boy from 9 fights over it and then the girl from 9 (who I'm guessing was in an alliance with the boy from her district) comes to help him. They struggle for a while but just a few moments later two cannon go off and both people from 9 lay on the ground dead. Dante runs out carrying his bag and the one from the tributes from 9. Meanwhile the girls from 10 and 11, who I think are allies too, run away each holding a bag. Then I notice Katherine running and taking her bag, but the boy from 4 blocks her way, she fights him and then I see James running there to help her.

The girl from 4 appears out of nowhere and tackles James to the ground. She takes out a small knife and raises it ready to kill James. I get out of my hiding and run there as fast as I can. This is my time to pay off the debt I had with James, when he saved me during training. She's about to thrust the knife into his chest when I hit her with the hilt of my sword and she falls to the ground.

I look at James and looks surprised, but very relieved. ''Seven! Look out!'' he says suddenly and pushes me to the ground and hits the girl from 4 with a spear I didn't know he had. She falls to the ground again and James uses that moment to thrust his spear into her neck which is my top ten of most horrible things I've seen in my entire life.

James looks at me breathing heavily and I don't know what he'll do next, but he doesn't has much time to decide to kill me or not because somebody lets out a horrible scream. James looks to the place where the scream came from; I turn around and look too. Katherine is lying on the ground with a big wound on her leg and the boy from 4 is standing nearby holding the same spear he had when he fought me. James starts to run over there, I follow him.

James is almost there, but it's too late. The boy from 4 brings the spear down and he sticks it in her stomach. ''NO!'' James shouts loudly and he tackles the boy from 4 and punches him in the face so hard that only after about 2 more punches a cannon goes off signaling the boy from 4's death.

James stands up and crouches beside her, pulls out the spear and takes her hand. I crouch beside her too not really sure what I should do now.

''I'm sorry, Katherine'' James says as tears stream down his eyes.

''It's okay James'' she says ''Just don't leave''

James stays there with her, holding her hand the whole time until she closes her eyes and her canon goes off. James still has tears running down his face when he lays her hand back in her stomach and kisses her lightly. Tears stream down my face too, I didn't know her, but it seems that James loved her and it's just so sad to see him saying goodbye.

''Come on, seven'' he says standing up and rubbing his eyes ''you look really pale and I think that's because of the 4 liters of blood coming out of your face''

I nod and I stand up, he looks devastated and I don't know what to tell him to make him feel better so I just suggest to go to my little camp on the other side of the lake. He just nods and follows me. We arrive to my little camp and he takes my bag and opens it. Inside there are like 2 syringes, both of them are really thin with a green liquid on them, there's also a huge bandage and a piece of paper. James picks the paper and reads it really fast.

''This will stop the bleeding of your wounds, but only for a few days, depending how bad the wound is'' he explains taking the thin, green syringes ''I can apply them to you''

I nod and he starts off by the one on my navel, he injects the medicine right where the wound is. I feel a horrible pain for a second but it just as it started it disappears and the bleeding stops almost completely. Then he treats my face, which hurts a lot more. Afterwards he cleans the blood off of me and covers my navel and my face with the bandages, he also wraps my hand with the bandage, which makes me feel way better. Once he's done he stands up and cleans his hands.

''I have to go now, we are even now, you saved my life I save yours'' he says and picks up his stuff.

''Wait, James'' I say ''Don't go, we could be allies''

''Seven, we are in the top 5 now, this is no time to start an alliance'' he says

''My name is Nike, so stop calling me seven'' I say ''And who cares if we are in the top 5? Let's just stay together until there's only you and me and then we'll see who the gamemakers decide to kill''

James looks thoughtful for a very long time until finally sighs and gives me a small smile ''I guess it won't be so bad to have some company''

I smile and he tells me that he'll take the first watch and that I should sleep, but there's something that I want to ask him ''James, did you knew Katherine before the games?''

He looks down sadly ''She was my girlfriend. I wasn't actually reaped, I volunteered to bring her back home''

''I'm sorry'' I say, not just because she died, but also for asking that question in such a hard moment for him.

''Don't be.'' He says ''Everything has to end at some point, I just wished it hadn't ended like this''

We stayed quiet from them on. James is right, everything has to end and I hope these games end soon.

**This chapter was pretty long and here it's almost 3am, so yeah, I'm very, very tired . I hope you liked it though and please review.**


	14. Mutts

**Thanks to FireBreadandSnares, nb1998 and the 2 guests, MockingJay and Dream, for reviewing. It really means the world to me that you like what I write and that you take the time to give me your opinion or your constructive criticism .**

**Dream: Sorry about that, English isn't my first language, but I promise I'll work on it :).**

**MockingJay: Yes, I did cry in chapter 11. That was the first time I've ever killed a character with so much detail :(.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! And just so you know this story isn't far from its ending, I think it'll last only 3 or 4 more chapters.**

**Mutts:**

_I see many things as I run through a black hallway. I don't know what I'm running after, but I do know that the images flashing around me are the worst memories I have from the arena, starting with the boy from 5, the one that got a spear through his neck. Then there's Chloe, lying on the ground, lifeless and bloody. I never saw that, my imagination created it and it's now showing it to me. Then there's the unnatural avalanche that tried to kill me, Dante destroying my hand, Silvia's scorched body on the ground, Kyle's dead body. The worst part is what comes last. Clive, looking at me, with the same look he had when I killed him. His eyes follow me everywhere I go, scared and defenseless, blaming me._

That's when I wake up. It's been a day since the feast and I was taking an afternoon nap (Hey, I was tired). My first nightmare, I thought those were supposed to come _after _the games. It makes me hard to believe how many horrible things I've seen and been through in so little time. Do all tributes have been through something like this? I don't know if I can take having nightmares like the one I just had every night.

''Hey!'' James says smiling as he walks through some trees to our little camp carrying some fruit and a few nuts in his arms ''You're finally awake! That afternoon nap lasted like 3 hours''

If you're wondering about James's good mood… After Katherine died, he decided he wouldn't just sit down and sulk until someone came and killed him. He wants to be happy, have a good time and enjoy his life until someone comes and kills him. I don't like thinking about it, but you simply can tell by looking at him. He doesn't want to win anymore, he knows he'll die and he wants to enjoy what he has left to live. That hurts a lot, because in the short time I've known him I consider him one of the best friends I've ever had.

''Are you hungry?'' he asks dropping all of the food he had on the floor ''What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost''

''It's-It's nothing'' I say, I don't want to bore him with my problems ''And yes, I'm always hungry''

''Then come on, there's plenty of food'' he says throwing a berry and catching it with his mouth ''Did you realize that the Capitol might be interviewing our family right now?''

''What do you mean?'' I ask sitting down beside him and taking a few fruits.

''Come on, Nikey'' he says '' Think a little bit. Every year the Capitol interviews the top eight tribute's families, we jumped from the top 10 to the top 5 in a day, so the Capitol will have to interview our families, they'll probably make them longer too considering there are only 5 families instead of 8''

''Don't call me 'Nikey''' I say annoyed but he just grins ''You're right, I didn't think about that. What do you think you're family will say about you?''

''Interesting question, my dear Nike'' he says with a ridiculous accent that kind of resembles the Capitol accent ''It's hard to say'' he continues without the accent ''My 7 year old sister will express her complete annoyance towards me by telling them many, many stories and making me look like the bad guy of every single one of them. My parents will tell them the usual 'You have no idea how proud we are of our little Jamie' thing and my friends will obviously tell the interviewers how awesome and cool I am''

''Yeah, you are really awesome'' I say jokingly ''But not as much as me''

He laughs very hard, which kind of offends me ''Keep dreaming, kid''

''I'm not a kid'' I say ''I'm fourteen''

''Yeah, and I'm seventeen'' he says ''that means I'm allowed to call you a kid''

''I hate you'' I say and he laughs again.

''What about you?'' he says ''What's your family saying?''

''Well, my dad is going to tell them everything about me, like my childhood, my friends, the rough parts of my life and everything else.'' I say ''My friends from school will think of embarrassing stories about me, which sadly they have a lot of them, to tell the interviewers. And Johanna will probably laugh at my joke of me saying I wish I were dating her and try to explain that we are only very good friends''

''What?!'' he says loudly, faking surprise and shock ''You are not dating her?! You just ruined my entire life, what couple am I going to ship from now on?!''

''I hate you even more now'' I say, but I laugh along with him. It's fun to laugh of the idea of me and Johanna dating. I really hope she thinks the same, otherwise I'll be in trouble when I go back home, _if _I go home.

Nothing worth telling happens during the rest of the day. It's close to midnight and James is asleep mumbling a lot about Katherine, poor guy. Everything seems quiet and there's no sound besides James's mumbling. Suddenly somebody screams. It's a very high pitch scream and it isn't far away from where we are. I shake James's shoulder and he wakes up instantly grabbing his spear.

''What? What happened?'' he says a little sleepy.

''Shh, listen'' I say.

There's a lot of noise coming from there, first the scream, then voices telling things to each other, fighting and finally a cannon. It's quiet for a second and then hurried footsteps coming to our direction. James and I are already on our feet, both of us holding our weapons waiting for whatever is there to come. Finally the girl from 11 runs pass us, very fast and disappears to the other side without even glancing at us.

''That was weird'' I say lowering my weapon ''What do you think she was running away from?''

But James isn't paying attention to me, he's looking at something and his eyes are wide open ''Nike, run'' he says quietly.

''What? What are you talking about?''

''Nike, RUN!'' he yells and this time he pushes me to the same direction the girl went, then he starts running the same way. I follow him, but not before looking back at our little camp. I do not regret running away.

What I saw back there is a little hard to describe, I only took a glance at it, but the one thing I can say for sure is, that thing s scary as hell. Think of a regular eagle, now make it at least 20 times bigger, take away its wings and replace them with huge muscular arms covered in a thin layer of bronze hair that ends with three long, sharp claws. Its head, again is just like a regular eagle's, its beak is a very big and sharp and its head is also covered in bronze hair. As James and I run away from it we can hear it getting closer, of course it is getting closer, when you have claws as feet it's pretty easy to run through a forest.

We enter a zone of the arena that I'm very familiar with, my camp with Kyle was right here. The fact that I know this place makes everything easier, here trees are closer together and there are branches and rocks all over the place, but I know where they are and I'm able to run through it faster than someone that doesn't know. Like James, it takes a moment before he trips over a tree branch and falls to the ground. I run back and help him stand up. He has a big cut on his cheek, but other than that he's okay. A cannon goes off not a second later and I can't help but wonder who died.

''Nike, lookout!'' James yells and pushes me. I hit my back against a tree and I see how the mutt slashes with its claws right in the place where I was just a second ago.

We can't run anymore, the mutt (I'm gonna start calling him John) would catch up with us and would kill us from behind, our only choice is to fight John, and believe it is scarier up close. You can see the actual size of his claws, his body is covered in bright bronze feathers and his eyes are blood red, staring at you with hatred every time they glance at you. John is distracted with James, who is fighting him with his spear without much success. John has his back against me and I decide to take that chance to kill him from behind, so I run and I thrust my sword into his back. Only the sword bounces back roughly making me drop it. That's when I realize his hair and feathers aren't bronze just because of looks, they are actual bronze metal. How can you kill something completely covered in metal? Seems like I'm just about to find out...

John turns around and glares at me before throwing himself at me. He knocks me to the ground and tries to thrust his beak in my face but I move to the right and his beak gets stuck to the ground. I use my free hand, the left one, and I punch him as hard as I can knocking him off of me. I whimper. My hand, I forgot that was the hand Dante destroyed, besides John's head is covered in metal. I look at my hand to see all of my fingers pointing at different angles and I'm bleeding so much that the bandage can't take it and the blood starts to drip.

I'm very grateful that I decided to ally with James otherwise John would've killed me while I was on the ground trying to cope with the horrible pain in my hand. James is fighting John and I'm crawling to the spot where my sword landed. I pick it up and stand up ready to fight John, but then I think how would that help? John is covered in metal, what part of him is not covered in metal? Then it hits me.

''James, help me knock him down!'' I yell.

''How?!'' James yells

''Just distract him, I'll take care of it''

A plan forms in my head and I take my rope out of my little bag. I run to a nearby tree and tie the rope to it as fast as I can. Then I take the other end of it and I stretch it. Simple, James makes John walk backwards, John trips from the rope and Nike kills John. James sees what I did and understands what I want to do and starts fighting harder until John starts walking backwards. A moment later John trips over the rope and falls face up. I let go of the rope and I run to where he is. John is startled, that's why he didn't stand up faster, it's the perfect chance for me though. I stand beside him and I sink my sword into his eye. John screeches loudly and tries to move the sword, but I don't let him. He fights some more, but there's no use, John is dying. Finally he stops fighting and I sheathe my sword again.

I walk up to James breathing heavily. ''Are you okay?'' I ask.

''Yeah, fine'' he says ''You?''

''I've been better'' I say truthfully as I check my bleeding hand.

''Do you want me to check that wound?'' James asks

''No, it's okay'' I say ''We don't have any supplies left, it would be no use''

''Fine. Who do you think died today?''

''I think the girls from 10 and 11'' I say ''I wish I could say Dante is dead, but I seriously doubt that''

The anthem of Panem plays right then and James and I both look at the sky to see if my guess was right. It was. They show both of her faces and then the sky seals again and everything turns quiet.

''So it's just you, me and Dante left'' I say.

''Yep, I wonder where he is''

''Oh, but James'' A voice very familiar to me says coming from the woods ''I'm right here''

**Not my best work, but I'm happy with it. And one thing, a friend recently told me that you pronounce Nike as Ni-kee, well I didn't know that, so I just want to clear out that my character's name is pronounced as Mike, but with and N. Sorry about that. Anyway I hope you all liked the chapter and please review. I got a lot of followers and favorites last chapter, and even though I really appreciate that you like my story enough to follow it or say it's your favorite, I would love if you could send me a review even if it's only 2 words :) .**


	15. An unexpected finale

**Thanks to FireBreadandSnares, runnergirl1234 and the guest reviewers mr megaman and RunninOut. You all made my day! **

**Mr megaman: Thank you, for using the word epic! Best. Word. Ever!**

**RunninOut: Thank you so much for that amazing review. And don't worry, I've thought about what will happen for a long time… ;)**

**An unexpected finale:**

I've been through a lot during my life, especially during the games, but I think the image of Dante standing there right after we killed John is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. Dante looks incredibly healthy (and scary). At simple look it seems he has no wounds at all. He's wearing an armor that covers everything, but his arms and his head. He's holding a short sword on each hand, which are covered in blood. The only thing that tells you he has been in any kind of fighting (besides the blood on his swords) is his nose, which looks almost completely flat and it's covered in dry blood. I realize that it was me who left his nose like that.

''How's your hand?'' Dante asks me with his perfectly evil smile.

I look at it and see that it is dripping even more blood now. So pretty. ''Not bad. How's your nose, Voldy?'' I don't know where I found the courage to say that, considering Dante scares the shit out of me, but I don't regret it at all.

He glares at me and turns to James ''I'm sorry about that girl, James'' he says, mocking him ''Such a shame, she was so pretty'' he smiles when he says that like if it were a fantastic joke.

''Don't you dare talk about her'' James says looking angrier than I've ever seen him, gripping his weapon ready to strike at any moment.

Dante chuckles ''Don't worry, you'll get to see her soon enough'' then he turns to me ''The same goes to you, Blondie, but with that little boy you were with'' I'm gripping my sword tighter than ever as I glare at him, how could he mention Kyle? And how can he call me Blondie? Somehow it's okay when Blight says it, but not when Dante does. ''Anyway'' he continues toying with one of his swords ''one way or another the games end tonight and I only see one Victor getting crowned'' he smiles with that last sentence and faster than I would've thought humanly possible he runs towards me both swords ready.

It's safe to say I panic and cover my face with both of my hands like a kid when they see something scary. Dante knocks me to the ground and raises both swords. This is it, I think, but thanks to everything that's pure and holy James knocks him to the ground and I stand up. James and Dante struggle for a second on the ground until they both stand up weapons ready. I go to where James is and I stand beside him raising my sword, trying not to shake or panic again.

''This is gonna be harder than I thought'' Dante says, looking more focused than he did before.

He strikes, again at me, I think he wants to kill me, but I'm not sure. This time I don't cower and I block with my sword right before both of his hit me in the face. James tries to thrust his spear into Dante's arm, but Dante cuts it with one of the swords. He's distracted and I hit him in the stomach with my knee. Note to self: When fighting with someone, try to remember when they're wearing protective metal armor.

I feel a sharp pain in my knee and I regret trying to hit him so hard. I stumble backwards and Dante laughs and I think I hear him mutter ''Idiot'' under his breath. The fighting goes on and on and on. We end up fighting by a small lake Kyle and I found what felt like an eternity ago. James and I have our backs facing the lake and we are very close to it, our feet are almost slipping to the lake. I can swim, the lake is not a problem for me, but it is for James. I think Dante realizes this and he hits James with the hilt of his sword. James falls and he starts splashing trying desperately to swim. The lake is relatively small, but it is about 10 feet deep and for someone that doesn't know how to swim it's almost impossible to get out of.

I sheathe my sword and I jump to the water. The water is freezing, but I don't think about it and swim towards James. I take his arm and swing it over my neck. James holds onto me and I start to swim to the opposite side of the lake. It would take Dante some time to surround the lake, which would buy us some time to prepare. Or escape.

I'm an okay swimmer. But the cold of the water, the pain in my hand and James's extra weight made me swim the short length of the lake very slowly, but I'm able to arrive to the other side. James and I walk out of the water, both of us coughing water and at least me pretty much exhausted. I look at the water and I see something red staining the water. Blood. I assume it was my hand, but if it is then it is bleeding way too much.

''Nike, your face'' James says ''It's bleeding again''

I touch my face. Damn it! Clive's stupid incurable wound started bleeding again. I touch the one on my navel and it is bleeding too. I'm not a doctor, but there's one thing for sure, I'm not going to last more than a day while bleeding this much.

''We need to go, now'' I say, ''before Dante surrounds the lake''

We took too long. Right after I say that Dante walks out if the bushes and pushes me against a tree. He raises his swords and I see what's gonna happen next, he's going to slash his swords through my chest, and then everything will be over. I close my eyes expecting the blow that will end my life. Instead of feeling 2 swords cutting my chest I feel someone falling on top of me and crushing me to the ground.

I open my eyes. James. James is the person that knocked me to the ground. And he's the one crushing me right now. And his blood is the one wetting my jacket. Dante looks surprise and suddenly everything makes sense. James threw himself in the middle of Dante's attack, shielding me from it. Dante looks at me and smiles. He raises his sword, but I can't let him kill me or James now, so I kick him in… Well, let's just say I kick him in that special place every guy has. He falls to the ground groaning. I could kill him now, but there's something more important I need to take care of.

I move James off of me, laying him on the grass. There are 2 long deep cuts in his chest and he's having trouble breathing. My eyes water and he looks at me. He's dying, I can tell just by looking at him.

''Win…'' he mutters softly and weakly.

''I will, James, I will. I swear'' I say as a tear falls down my face and lands on James's cheek, but he doesn't seem to notice.

His head falls to the side and his cannon goes off. I close his eyes and whisper goodbye and stand up. I clean the tears off my face. I must've hit Dante very hard, because he's just standing up and he looks in a lot of pain, but he smiles anyway. ''One down. Only one left''

''You filthy son of a bitch'' I say anger replacing all the fear I used to have.

He just smiles and raises his swords again. I fight him with everything I have, but he just seems to be better than me, and I'm more hurt too. He tries to thrust one of his swords on my chest, but I block, at the same time he slashes the other sword to my neck, but I duck and hit him on the hilt of his sword, with the tip of mine. He drops it and I step on it hard, breaking it in half. He glares at me and tries to hit me with his other sword, but I block again.

It's already early in the morning and it's getting a little hotter. Dante and I are both sweaty, but neither of us is willing to give up, even though we've been fighting for hours. Still, I'm so close. I can't stop, not even if I wanted to. So many people are counting on me, I know I said I wouldn't kill anyone else, but I'll have to, I owe it to James, to Chloe, to Kyle, to Katherine. To all the people I knew that had to die.

Dante is the first one to spot a chance. He catches my sword with his hand, just like I did with the massive girl from 1 on the first day, and then while I'm trying to release my sword from his grip he slashes his sword ripping my pants and cutting deeply into my thigh. I drop my sword and fall down clutching my leg as it bleeds. How much blood do I even have? Dante looks at his hand and then shakes the blood off as if it weren't important, which I guess it wasn't.

He smiles ''I guess this is how it ends'' he says ''You were very close, Blondie, don't worry I'll give you a death everybody will remember''

He walks up to me and smiles. All of a sudden he raises his foot and stomps on my leg. I cry out in pain as I feel my bone breaking. He picks up my sword and I crawl backwards, dragging my leg and leaving a trail of blood on the ground. He kicks me, making me fall completely face down on the ground. I try to stand up, but he kicks me again in the chest and I fall again, feeling how my ribs brake. He doesn't understand. Dante is playing with me, I might be about to die, but I'm not dead. Not yet. But he won't kill me, because he's arrogant, he doesn't understand that if he doesn't kill me now, I'll keep fighting and I'll fight until I'm dead. ''You won't win'' I say as I cough blood on the ground.

He just laughs ''You can't even stand up, by yourself and you think you can defeat me?'' Okay, he has a point. I just need a plan. Suddenly I realize where I am. This is the place where I ended up after saving Kyle's life. And just a little farther away… I got it. I know what I have to do.

''You're pathetic'' I say crawling slowly towards a tree, with low branches. I'm improvising everything I'm about to say, but I know him enough to know how to actually hurt him, he's a career. They all think exactly the same, they just don't know it ''You don't care about going back home. You only want to be remembered, you think winning the games will get you fame. And maybe it will, it will give you the fame of a murderer. I wouldn't want that. I'd prefer to die.''

''Shut up!'' he screams and raises the sword ready to kill me. Good thing is I distracted him long enough to grab a hold onto the tree and when he strikes I use all of my strength to stand up and hide behind the tree. I hear how the sword hits the tree and that's my chance. I knock him to the ground, but I don't even try to hurt him, I take my sword back and I stand up, using the sword as a crutch.

Dante stands up unharmed and pulls out his short sword. I walk backwards slowly, but he doesn't seem to notice. ''That was quite a distraction'' he says ''I wasn't expecting it, but now it's over. You're dead'' He lunges at me, sword raised high. I start the last step of my plan. I lunge towards him and I grab his wrist stopping him from cutting my face. I hit him in the face with my elbow and then I use my right hand to push him. Dante's face turns to complete panic as he sees the cliff and slips.

Time stops. What am I doing? I just said I preferred to die than become a murderer, yet here I am pushing someone off a cliff. I jump forward, to the edge of the cliff and I catch Dante with my right hand. I feel a horrible pain as my shoulder moves in an ugly way holding Dante's weight. The fear disappears of Dante's face and it is replaced by shock and surprise-

''What are you doing?!'' he yells.

The pain is getting overwhelming. Not just in my shoulder, but also in my leg, left hand, face, ribs, navel and I see my own blood falling on Dante's face. ''I can't kill you!''

''What?!'' he says ''You have to!''

''No, I don't!'' I yell ''I don't have to kill anybody just because the Capitol says I have to!''

There's a moment of silence after I say that. And Dante looks even more surprised than before. Then he smiles but not in his creepy way, but as if he were… a friend ''They need their winner'' he says ''I was never supposed to win, you were. You are the only one of us that didn't change.''

He's right, they do need a winner and this won't end until they have him, but I can't kill him. ''I can't'' I say as my eyes water from the pain and the situation.

''This is the second time you've beaten during this games'' he says ''You let me live the first time, let me repay the favor''

He raises his sword and I my eyes widen ''No! Dante , don't do it! We can both get out of this!''

''Don't let me die in vain, Nike!'' he says and that's when the hilt of the sword hits my hand making me drop him. I watch as he falls, tears stream down my face and nothing seems to make sense anymore. I watch the body of a person I misjudged, a person that turned out to be braver than I'd ever be, a person that at the end accepted his death like a hero would. Finally his body hits the bottom and I hear the last cannon of the 68th annual Hunger Games.

**That's the end of the 68****th**** annual Hunger Games! I sincerely hope you all like that turn of events. But I wonder, will Nike have to pay for that act of rebellion at the end? Maybe, maybe not. You won't know until the last 2 chapters are posted, which will posted next weekend! Please read and review.**


	16. Almost Dead

**Thanks to nb1998 and FireBreadandSnares for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter! **

**Almost dead:**

It feels like an eternity since Dante's body hit the ground and he died, but I know it's been merely a few seconds. The strong voice of Claudius Templesmith booms around the arena ''Ladies and gentleman, I present you, the 68th annual Hunger Games victor, Nike Midas!''. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Everything hurts and it takes a lot of effort to even breathe. Still, I try to use my good hand to stand up, but end up slipping with something wet on the ground. Blood. I'm lying in a pool of blood that keeps getting bigger and bigger. When I notice that I start to feel dizzy and my vision turns blurry. I fall back to the ground and use all the strength I have to keep my eyes open, because I'm afraid that if I close them, I might never open them again.

I hear hurried footsteps, then voices and then some people take me by the arms and my legs and lift me up. They carry me somewhere, but I'm too dizzy to notice. Using a lot of effort I realize they're taking me into the hovercraft that's supposed to take me back to the Capitol. They take me in and lay me on a bed. I wish I could describe my surroundings, but I can't, because I start to see something else. My life. My life flashing before my eyes, like a movie. I see so many things, memories of my mom I didn't know I had, me playing hide and seek with that girl, hanging out with my dad, like 20.000 images of Johanna and I, the games, and then it's over and everything turns black.

I'm falling. At least it feels like I'm falling, through an endless cliff, where there's nothing, but darkness. ''No!'' I shout, but nobody hears me. This can't be happening, I'm dying, I might be already dead. Is this what death is like, an endless black pit with nothing to expect or to wait for? My questions are interrupted when my back hits the bottom of what I thought was endless. You might think that hitting the bottom hurt, but it didn't, it felt more like landing in a soft bed of grass. My eyes are close, and all of my other senses seem stronger than before. I hear a soft breeze moving the branches from the trees, it smells like pine trees and I feel grass under my fingers. I open my eyes and I find myself in a very familiar place, the forest back at district 7.

I sit down and smile, I'm not really sure in what part of the forest I am, but this is home. This is the place I've been dreaming about for the last 2 weeks. I wonder if I head back to the district, will I find people? I'm in my own mind, so I might. I don't want to stand up though, I feel so comfortable and it's the first time in days that I feel safe. Then I hear music, coming from somewhere in the woods. I know the song. It's The Valley Song, my mom used to sing that to me all the time, whenever I was sad, or sick or couldn't sleep she would sing it to me. I wonder who's singing it?

_Down in the valley, the valley so low_

_Hang your head over, hear the wind blow_

_Hear the wind blow, dear, hear the wind blow_

_Hang your head over, hear the wind blow_

I look up, surprised. That voice, that's my mother's voice. She's singing the song, I know it. I stand up and I follow the sound. I move faster than I would've normally been able to through these woods, but I need to see her, what if it's her? That would mean I'm dead, but I'll see her again. It takes me a while to realize that the song is coming from the clearing. When I'm just a few feet away I start running and I hear the last verse of the song.

_Roses love sunshine, violets love dew_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you_

_Know I love you, dear, know I love you_

_Angels in Heaven know I love you_

I finally arrive to the clearing and my mom is there. She's sitting on the ground and when she sees me she smiles. She looks just like I remember her, blonde hair like mine, bright green eyes, simple clothes and always a smile on her face. She stands up and I walk closer to her. I notice something, she seems to be shining, like if there were a light behind her, and I realize there is. Is that supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel? I'm close to my mom now and I notice her smile is sad. Is she sad to see me or is she sad because I'm dead?

She stretches her hand and touches my cheek. I feel a sudden warmth and she looks at me, tears in her eyes and says ''Not yet''. I reach for her, but she disappears. The light stays though and I don't know if I'm supposed to cross it. Before I can make up my mind somebody comes from the other side and runs right through the light and knocks me to the ground. The light disappears too and I close my eyes as my back hit the ground.

Someone is lying right on top of me and I'm not really sure what to do. Then I hear laughter, a laughter I heard many times before. I open my eyes and I see Johanna smiling down at me, keeping herself from crushing me by holding both of her hands besides my body. I realize at that moment how beautiful she really is. Sure, I've always thought of her as pretty, but what I'm seeing… Wow. Her smile looks so perfect and real and her chocolate brown eyes are shining with glee as if she were delighted to see me. She is… perfect, that's the only word that fits, perfect and I don't know why it took me so long to realize.

''You're not getting away from me, Scarface!'' she says laughing and I smile, a little confused by my new nickname.

That's when I wake up. The lights blind me and my head hurts a lot, but aside for that I feel okay. I'm in the Capitol, I can tell because of how everything looks new and expensive. I'm in a small room lying on a comfortable bed covered in blankets and there's almost nothing else except for a door on the opposite side of the room. I rub my eyes with my right hand and I notice that it looks perfect, all the scars and cuts I had are gone. I remember about my left hand, and I wonder if it looks as good as the right one. I take my left hand from under the blankets and I'm taken aback by what I see. It looks like if I were wearing a tight silver glove. I touch it, it's so weird, it feels like a regular hand just harder and silver. That's creepy and amazing, they replaced my hand, or maybe just covered it, I don't know, but the technology they must've used to do something like this must be incredibly complex.

My thoughts are interrupted when the door opens and Blight walks in, followed by Nova, Perc and Thrain. They all smile at me and the last three throw themselves at me and start hugging me and crying. They ramble on and on about how they felt when I did some random thing in the arena, and how well I performed and how happy they are to see me. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see them, but my brain doesn't work yet and they are giving me a headache.

''Let the kid breathe!'' Blight says laughing and I feel like hugging him.

Blight walks up to me and smiles ''Nice work, Blondie'' he says ''I guess Chloe made the right decision then''

I stop smiling and I stare at him ''What about Chloe? What decision?'' I ask.

Blight clears his throat and looks at Perc ''Didn't you have to prepare him for the recaps?''

''Oh right!'' Perc says enthusiastically ''C'mon Nike!'' he says and pulls me off the bed.

''What about Chloe?! What did she tell you?!'' I yell as Perc drags me out of the room.

Blight doesn't answer and then the door closes and Perc leads me through a long hallway. What did Blight meant? Why wouldn't he answer me? Am I going to be confused for the rest of my life? I think the answer to the last one would be yes. As we walk Perc tells me a lot of things ''Nike we were worried sick! You died during the operation! Almost 2 whole minutes! The doctors were about to give up on you and your heart started beating again! You were a medical miracle!'' I died? Well that explains seeing my mom and I guess my heart start beating again when Johanna appeared and knocked me to the ground. Johanna… I miss her so much. ''And then it took you 3 days to wake up! Three days! And with all the fuzz about the venom…'' Perc keeps rambling on and on and I just zoom out until we arrive to the room where my prep team will prepare me for the recaps of the games.

My prep team hugs me and praises me and talk a lot and been fully honest I did not hear one word of what they were saying. They start to work on me and this is the first time I look at myself since the games. I'm thinner than I've ever been before and I'm really tanned. My hair is almost reaching my shoulders and it is a mess, I'm gonna ask Perc to cut it shorter… But what surprises me the most are the scars. I have a thin white scar going across my face, where Clive cut and I also have an ugly scar on my navel. ''Perc? Why do I have scars?'' I ask him ''I thought the doctors would erase them off of me''

''They would have, but they can't'' he says ''Remember? I told you in the hallway''

''Hmm, yeah… Can you tell me again?''

''Because of the venom of course'' he says ''The weapon that boy used to cut you had a venom that made the wounds incurable, the doctors figured out how to close the wound, but the venom doesn't let them erase the scars''

Oh great. Now I have a constant reminder of the games drawn on my face. The prep team cleans me, wash my hair, cut my nails and pretty much make me look like I've been taking good care of myself over the past few weeks, which I haven't. Then Perc cuts my hair. I ask him not to give me any kind of hairstyle, to leave my hair as a short mess, but a mess. He does just like I ask him and I almost feel like my old, not Capitolite, self, except for that scar on my face. Stupid scar…

Perc wants me to feel comfortable so he keeps my outfit simple. He gives me jeans, a bottomed up white shirt and a green tie. Perc smiles and runs his hand through my hair making it even messier ''You look great, now we have to go to the recaps, we're late already!''

They take me to an area underneath the stage. It's customary for the victor and his team to raise from beneath the stage. First the prep team, followed by the escort, the stylist, the mentor and finally the victor. I'm in a poorly lit room with most of the people I just mention. They come and talk to me, but they leave after they realize how nervous and scared I am. Blight comes and sits with me.

''Nervous? Anxious? Frightened?'' he asks ''Which one are you feeling?''

''The latter'' I say ''I don't want to relive it''

''Yeah, that's the cruelest part'' he says looking slightly bitter ''Sometimes the ones who died are luckiest, they don't have to relive the worst moment of their lives every time they close their eyes''

That was unexpected… ''Any advice?''

''Yes'' he says ''When you see something painful for you in the games, don't cry. You'll look weak. Try not to look at the screen or smile as if you know that meeting them was great''

''But I cried during 3 quarters of the games! I think I already look weak'' I say and it is true, I've been thinking about it and I cried way too much, but I've always been like that with death. Death breaks me and turns me into a sobbing mess, but I think you've already noticed.

''Yeah, but during the game it was appropriate, besides you're young, it's understandable. But you need to act like… Like you've grown, like you're more mature now, get it?''

''Yeah, I get it'' I say.

Blight hugs me all of a sudden which confuses me, but I understand when he starts talking faster and quieter, he doesn't want to be overheard. ''Listen'' he says ''If Caesar asks you about Dante's death, here or in the interview tomorrow, make something up. Say it was a hard moment for you and you didn't know what you were doing, or that you felt bad for Dante. Do not say you wanted to stop the games, understood?''

''Yes'' I say. Then he stands up and says ''You'll be fine, now get ready, show's about to start''

''Blight'' I call before he leaves ''What did you mean by Chloe made the right decision?''

''Nothing, don't worry about it'' he says and leaves.

He's hiding something, I don't know what but I'll figure it out. However right now it's not the time to figure out Chloe's mind, now it's the time to become something I'll never thought I'll be. A victor.

**That's it for the second to last chapter! Tomorrow the last chapter of NMW will be posted and I can't wait for you guys to read the ending, there's a big surprise in it ;). Anyway, I hope you all liked it and please review. Even if you write one word it is enough for me, I really want to know what you think :D.**


	17. Consequence

**Thanks to mb1998, FireBreadandSnares adn RunninOut (Guest) for reviewing!**

**RunninOut: Thank you so much for that! You should create an account, that way you can follow the story easier and I could answer to your reviews as soon as I read them. I hope you like the last chapter! **

**Consequence:**

The crowd is deafening. They are yelling, stomping their feet, cheering and I'm shocked at first, but then I smile and wave at the crowd which makes them cheer even louder. Caesar Flickerman receives me onto the stage and shakes my hand enthusiastically. I sit down on the velvet chair where I'll watch the games as I wait for the crowd to quite down a little and I think Caesar will talk a little with me before the recaps. The finally calm down and Caesar smiles at me warmly.

''So Nike…'' he starts to say.

''I love you, Nike!'' A girl shouts from among the crowd and I laugh along with everybody else, I really don't know what else you can do when a random person you've never talked to says she loves you.

''You have them going crazy!'' Caesar says laughing as well ''I hope Johanna doesn't get jealous''

''Caesar, please!'' I say laughing.

Caesar doesn't seem to want to interview me, which is cool by me, he says a few more jokes and then he sits to watch the recaps like all of us. The recaps start with the reaping, then the opening ceremonies and the interviews. They show a little of everyone, but they focus mainly on me; thankfully, I don't think I could stand seeing all of the death tributes for a long time. Then the games begin. The bloodbath is horrible, a lot more than I remembered it. The first death of the games was the boy from 5, next the huge girl from 1 knocks me to the ground and I kick her, she's the second one to die, killed by the boy from 9. Clive kills Chloe by hitting her with the ax in the stomach. I resist the urge to cry when I see that, everybody is probably watching my reaction, so I just look at the screen trying not to show any emotion.

Next is me cleaning the wounds on my hand and climbing the mountain. The image changes and there's Kyle and Marissa fighting the boy from 3 and at the end killing him. Then they switch to me again. They show me saving Kyle's life, our alliance and the careers planning a way to kill us. Then there's my fight with Dante, seeing him destroying my hand is almost as bad as him actually destroying it and the crowd gasps when they see my awful hand. They show Clive pushing Silvia to the fire and running away. Kyle's death, which is more painful than anything I've felt before and my eyes water, but I don't cry. I won't let them see me cry, not again.

They show me following Clive's track, scaring the boy from 4 and then killing Clive. They decided to do a very close shot of Clive cutting my face and I'm pretty sure most people just notice the scar on my face. Then there's the feast, again I resist the urge to cry when they show Katherine's death. They show the appearance of John in the woods and how it kills the girl from 10 and then the girl from 11 running through our camp. James and I fighting against John and Dante killing the girl from 11, then the final showdown James and me against Dante. I close my eyes when James sacrifices himself to keep me alive. I can't watch it, I can't. Then there's me tricking Dante and making him fall off the cliff. They cut the part where I try to save him and they just show him falling to his death, then they pronounce me victor of the 68th annual Hunger Games and the shows over.

Then President Snow himself makes his way to the stage followed by a little girl holding a velvet pillow with the crowns on it. I stand up and face the President respectfully. When he gets closer the first thing that hits me is the smell, a very strong scent of blood covered by the not so strong smell of roses. I try not to make a disgusted face (that would be considered slightly disrespectful) and wait for him to place the crown in my head. He places it carefully over my head and looks at me like if he knew something about me I didn't.

The crowd cheers and Caesar closes the show. The take us to the President mansion, where I'll have the Victory banquet. I don't eat much, because there are sponsors and crazy teenage girls trying to take pictures with me. It's a crazy night, about half a dozen girls try to kiss me (sadly a few of them succeed), fame really turns girls nuts, I'm not _that _good looking. The night finally ends and I'm allowed to go back to my quarters and sleep.

They wake me up early in the morning and after a quick breakfast they take me to my prep team so I can get ready for my interview. The interview takes place in a small stage surrounded by cameras and 2 fancy chairs for Caesar and me. Caesar greets me like an old friend giving me a hug and smiling warmly at me.

''Hello, Nike'' he says ''How are you doing?''

''´Pretty good, Caesar!'' I say

Somebody counts down to zero and the interviews begin. Caesar asks me a lot about the games and I answer most of them truthfully.

''You told us you didn't want to ally with anyone'' he says ''but you ended up in 2 alliances, how did that happen?''

''Oh, Caesar'' I say ''When you're in the arena, you're alone, alone against people who are stronger than you. I felt lonely, I needed to be with someone''

''And we all saw how emotional you became when they passed away, did you regret allying with them after they died?'' he asks me choosing his words carefully so that not make me cry.

''No'' I say staring at my hands ''Meeting James and Kyle is the best thing that happened during this games''

''We all saw the terrifying moment when Dante crushed your hand with a hammer. Can you tell us how it was dealing with an injury of that kind?''

''Horrible''

Caesar laughs ''I can imagine…'' he says ''Good thing the doctors where able to save most of it''

''What?'' I ask ''I thought this was like a completely new hand'' I look at my shiny metal hand when I say it.

''Oh, no'' Caesar says ''They had to cut all of your skin and they replaced it with a metal cover. It makes your hand almost just as it was before, but more resistant''

''Wow'' I say ''That's pretty amazing. Now shall we move on?''

Caesar smiles ''Of course'' he says ''Now tell me, how did you feel when you found out you were the victor of the 68th annual Hunger Games?''

''At the moment I didn't know what was going on'' I say ''I was dying, as in literally, I even died during the operation, but when I woke up I felt very grateful and happy. I don't think I deserve it though, I'm not half as brave as some of the people I saw dying right in front of me''

''Nike, I didn't know you died!'' Caesar says ''I can't imagine how much you wanted to live to come back from death itself! What do you think gave you the strength to wake up again?''

''I don't know'' I say ''I think it was the thought of returning home''

''And you made it!'' Caesar says ''You'll be home soon and you'll be able to keep dating Ms. Johanna Mason!''

''I wish, Caesar'' I say laughing, but this time I'm faking it, ever since my dream Johanna has been in my mind every single moment of the day, I really hope it didn't show. The interview ends with a few more comments from Caesar.

I go to my quarters and change before the train ride. I'm on the train with only Blight and Nova. I talk a lot with Nova and it's nice, but I really want to talk with Blight. I need to know what Chloe told him. I don't know why I care so much, I simply do. It's not until we are almost back in the district that I get a chance. I find him drinking in the dining room by himself and I sit in front of him. He stands up to leave, but I catch his wrist and keep him here.

''Blight, please'' I say ''What did Chloe tell you?''

He sighs ''Nike, she ask me not to tell you''

''But Blight'' I say ''I need to know. There's something that I don't understand yet. I want to know why acted like that and what decision she made, please''

Blight stares at me quietly for a very long time and finally he sighs and sits in front of me. ''She asked me to forget about her'' he starts to say looking at his drink ''She asked me to focus only on you, to send sponsors to you only, to use all my time to think of strategies for you. She wanted you to win no matter the cost''

I'm shocked and I still don't understand ''What?! Why?'' I ask.

''Because she knew you and you knew her.'' He says ''You were friends, best friends. Your mom and hers were good friends so you used to play when you were children. Your mom died when you were 4 and Chloe was 7. Chloe's mom blamed your dad and forbid Chloe to see you again. You forgot, you were very young so it was okay, but she didn't she never did. She loved you like a brother and she kept track on you her entire life, making sure you were okay even here in the games''

I'm crying again. I remember. I do, I've remembering for a very long time. Chloe was the girl I've played hide and seek with. How could I not recognize her? She gave up her life for me and I had the nerve not to know what made her do it.

Blight moves his hand to my shoulder and looks at me and I'm surprised to see his eyes are watery too. ''I know it hurts'' he says ''But you need to move on, that's what she wanted. Now go wash your face, we'll be in the district soon, there will be plenty of cameras''

I go to my quarters and do as told. I stop crying, but I can't stop thinking about Chloe. I owe so much to so many people… Right now I need to act for the cameras one more time, but when this is over I need to make my life worth, for all the people that gave their lives for me.

We arrive to the district. There's a crowd of at least 90% of the district in front of the train station, holding banners, shouting my name and cheering. I don't know most of them, but I gave them food, so they're here thanking me. I smile and wave. I walk among the crowd; girls ask me to go out with them, guys act as if they've been my friends my entire life. I find Douglas among the crowd and he congratulates me and smiles like he always does, I find a few co-workers, I'm not very close with them, but they still congratulate me and shake hands with me and I'm happy to see them. Still, where is my dad? Or Johanna? I see Johanna's family, her mom and her little brother Alex. I say hi to them, ask them about Johanna, but they don't know where she is. Alex tells me how cool he thinks I am and asks me to teach him how to fight and I promise him I would.

The crowd and the cameras leave me alone after a few hours and I still haven't seen trace of my dad or Johanna yet. Maybe they want to see me in private… I'm having a bad feeling about all of this. I walk to my house, it feels so weird, everything feels different, I'm going to be moving to my new house soon, now I'm rich and famous it's just so surreal, but right now I just want to see my family. When I enter my house I'm happily surprised, Johanna is sitting in the kitchen table staring at her hands. When I enter she looks up and smiles. She looks just like she did in my dream, beautiful and perfect. I smile and run to where she is and hug her tightly. She hugs me back and that's when I know something's wrong. The Johanna I know would tell me a sarcastic comment about how eager I am, or tell a joke about why the Capitol thinks we're an item, instead she says nothing. I push her a little so that I can look at her in the eye, her eyes are watery and that scares me.

''Johanna'' I say ''What happened?! What's wrong?!''

''Nike…'' she says ''Y-your dad… He's dead''


	18. Acknowledgements and big news!

**Acknowledgements and big news! **

**I can't believe I finished… This is so amazingly awesome. This story started what feels like an eternity ago and I feel like all the planning and working was completely worth it. And it was worth it because of all the people that took the time to review, so I want to thank all of you! To show you how much it meant to me I took the time to write the name of every person that ever reviewed!**

**Nb1998**

**FireBreadnadSnares**

**Pax Cronin**

**Runnergirl1234**

**JonB-asl-c-w**

**Pineapplepower**

**Flossah**

**Jennifer Bailey Sneed**

**Tvd1002**

**Fkot**

**NorthViking**

**Lupus Sage**

**Jabberjaymockingbird99**

**Kingdomkeeper365**

**Midnightafterdark**

**Twinkie062197**

**Dream (Guest)**

**Mr megaman (Guest)**

**RunninOut (Guest)**

**MockingJay (Guest)**

**It may not seem like a lot, but it is more than I could've ever expected :D. I would also like to give a special thank you to Pax Cronin for giving me some amazing ideas (he's basically the reason why James existed at all, so THANK YOU!) and to nb1998 for been my first ever reviewer and reviewing every single chapter, you have no idea how much that meant to me :,)!**

**Now you read in the title that there was some big news on this chapter, so hear this out! As you all noticed the last chapter's last sentence was a huge cliff hanger (I **_**soooo**_** loved that ;)). Well, don't think I'm going to leave it like that, because in 2 weeks No Matter What's sequel, Still Fighting, will be posted! I can't wait for you to read what I have in mind! **

**Anyway, this is it for my first story No Matter What! If you liked it and want to read Still Fighting I recommend you to Author Alert me so you know when it'll be posted. Thank you all again!**


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